


One Side of the Coin

by Riddlerkp



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Fluff in the future, Guilt, Heartbreak, Learning To Open Up, Long, Relationship(s), Reveal, Slow Burn, i havent decided yet, oc vilians, rating could change, soul searching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9556016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddlerkp/pseuds/Riddlerkp
Summary: Love is a lot harder then both Marinette and Adrien think. Especially when trying to work past ones own demons and heartbreak. Can They find each other when they are struggling to put both sides of their personalities together?(currently on hiatus till further notice)





	1. Maybe Opening Up a Little I'snt a Bad Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So this is my first fanfiction ever. I'd always been afraid of correctly portraying characters but when I got an account here I figured why not. I have no one to beta read this for me so I'm apologizing in advance if there are spelling errors or if something doesn't make sense. This chapter doesn't have too much going on. it's kind of a build up for what's going to happen in the next chapter so I hope you stick around for that!
> 
> And of course I'd love to get comments about what you guys think about it so far and Kudos would be amazing. It would make my day :>

Marinette quickly tied her hair back into her usual pig tails as she attempted to slide her feet into her shoes. She tumbled off balance and her heel accidentally stepped on the back of her left shoe, smashing it down and making it impossible to put on hands free. She groaned around the hair tie in her mouth right before she pulled it out to tie up the other half of her hair.

  
“That’s what I get for trying to multitask.” She mumbled as she bent over to fix the shoe. She slipped her foot in easier with her full attention on it so she couldn’t possibly slip.

  
“Marinette! You are going to be late to school again!” a voice called out from below and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, clicking it on to see the time glaring back at her in big white numbers. She groaned, realizing she had been moving a lot slower then she thought she was and barely had any time to make it to school on time. She was officially doomed!

  
“Coming mama!” Marinette hollered back down and quickly made her way through the open hatch door and down a few sets of stairs till she found her mother in the kitchen.  
“Did you over sleep again?” she asked as she handed her something to eat.

  
She put the food into her mouth, barely registering what it was, and chewed quickly before swallowing audibly, “I told myself I was only going to close my eyes for a few more second…then the next thing I knew I was late!”

  
“Well hurry, you still have time if you run.” She smiled at Marinette with a knowing look and she couldn’t help but smile back.

  
“Your right mom.” Moving forward she pressed a kiss to her mother’s cheek before she took off at a run while sliding her backpack onto her back, “Love you! See you after school.” She smiled and waved as she disappeared out of the door.

  
Once outside Marinette booked it across the street to school. She always felt lucky she didn’t have to go far to get to school, but the safety blanket of it being so close was one reason Marinette always pushed it and ended up late. Without taking a moment to catch her breath once she reached the school, she booked it up the front stairs, past the other stragglers, and sprinted up to the classroom. She found herself busting through the door just as the bell rang.

  
Everyone’s eyes turned to look at Marinette, most of them unsurprised by her late arrival since it happened at least once a week. She shot a sheepish smile at the teacher who just gave her a disapproving look before she slunk over to her seat and slid in as quietly as she could.

  
“I almost thought you were not coming.” Alya whispered leaning over into Marinette’s face, not even bothering to hide the smirk playing on her lips, “Did you over sleep again? You really need to set an alarm every ten minutes so you stop falling back asleep.”

  
Marinette sighed, wanting to collapse onto the table top in despair, “I’ve tried. But tired Marinette still wins every time. Sometimes I don’t even remember turning the alarms off!”

  
She opened her mouth to say more but there was a giggling sound from right in front of the two that caused Marinette to pause. Her eyes shot over to the blond boy in front of her whose shoulders rose in fell in a laugh he was trying to control. After a second he must have realized Marinette had noticed him because he turned around in his seat to look at her with beautiful green eyes and a smile that practically blinded Marinette.

  
“Sorry for eavesdropping, “Adrien whispered, “I’ve just done that a few times herself after a late night shoot and I can relate.”

  
Marinette felt her lips jerk up into a smile that caused her lips to tremble slightly from the awkward position, “N- no problem! I wasn’t being super quite or anything so it’s your fault- no! I mean not your fault, it’s not your fault you heard. I never imagined you for being one to do that kind of thing though.”

  
She knew as she talked that she was rambling and that the words came out rushed and awkward but his brilliant smile didn’t fade, “ Oh yeah I do it all the time!” suddenly the teacher cleared her throat and the two of them snapped out the moment, their heads looking up to see the unamused teacher glaring them down.

  
“Are you two done?” She asked and they both nodded, a little bit of guilt shooting through her even thought her heart was soaring. Convinced that they were finished, the teacher went back to her lecture and Adrien turned back around to face the front of the class.

  
However, as class continued to move Marinette’s world was frozen. Adrien had talked to her! He had started a conversation with no prompting from her whatsoever! That didn’t happen every day and she couldn’t help the excitement and nerves that were bouncing around in her head and her stomach. Sure she had stumbled and tripped over her words but it was still amazing. She felt like she could faint from her happiness before she realized she could faint from the fact that she was holding her breath. She let it out slowly so no one could hear her and there was no chance of someone turning to watch her as she gulped in a new breath. Putting her hands to her face she instantly registered the heat coming from her cheeks and realized she was blushing along with the biggest smile that stretched her face.

  
Looking over at Alya she shot her look that was meant to say ‘Holy cow did you see that?’

  
She looked back at her with a glance that said ‘sure did girl. Good job!’

  
Marinette sunk back into her seat feeling giddy. She stared at the back of Adrien’s head starting to imagine what other routes the conversation could have gone if the teacher

hadn’t interrupted. Imagining maybe him asking her on a date or asking her to be his girlfriend right there in a moment of clarity that there love was meant to be!

  
She almost laughed to herself at how ridiculous both of those situations were. Adrien didn’t like her, she knew that well enough. She was just a girl that sat behind him in class that was too nervous in front of him to form complete sentences. She felt her smile fade again slowly as the magic of the situation started to ware off.

  
After that class seemed to drag on forever. She kept glancing at Adrien, wondering if he would talk to her again the next chance he had but always telling herself how impossible that was. How little she was in Adrien’s world. By the time lunch had rolled around Marinette found herself in a mood.

  
Alya and her had found a spot outside to eat in the sun, a bit farther away from the rest of their classmates.

  
“How are you not freaking out right now?” Alya said with a perfectly raised eyebrow, a sandwich paused in its journey to her mouth.

  
“What do you mean?” Marinette mumbled around a cookie her dad had baked specially for her lunch.

  
“Did you already forget that Adrien talked to you this morning, and you only messed up half as bad as usual? I figured you would be bouncing all over the place.”

  
She sighed and set the cookie down, “Yeah I guess. I mean, I was really happy at first, you know? But then I started thinking about how it didn’t really mean anything and that he was never going to like me that way and that I’m going to die alone with one hundred cats when they are not even my favorite animal!”

  
“Whoah whoah whoah girl, “Ayla clamped her hands down on Marinette’s shoulder, “Take a breather and slow down. You are over reacting again. You are not going to end up alone and you don’t know that Adrien doesn’t like you. I mean he talked to you today. Don’t you think that’s something?”

  
Marinette picked up her sandwich put picked at the bread instead of eating it, “I mean I guess. But he’s just such a nice person, he talks to anyone. The possibility of him liking me is very low.”

  
Alya looked at her with a frown before bumping her shoulder with her own, “Don’t be so down about it. You are making great progress. Right after the umbrella thing you told me about you couldn’t even breathe around him. At least now you guys have normal conversations every once and awhile. You on your way to becoming friends and once your friends anything can happen. And I’m sure anyone in their right mind would fall in love with you.”

  
A small smile perked up on Marinette’s face, “You too good to me. How did I end up with a best friend like you?”

  
Alya flashed her a smile ten times bigger then Marinette’s, “Because you are such a sweet human being.”

  
They went back to eating, and while Marinette felt a little better, her worries were still eating at her. How was she such a nervous wreak when it came to Adrien? Why wasn’t she brave? Why couldn’t she be a bit more like ladybug?

  
She knew why, but it still hurt her a little to think about it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Marinette dropped her pencil on her notepad with a sigh. She was trying to design something to get her mind off of her life but nothing was coming to her. Her eyes slid over to the clock sitting on her desk and while it was a little early, she figured she could use getting out and stretching her muscles before meeting up with Chat.

  
“Hey Tikki.” He called and the little Kwami appeared from off Marinette’s bed, a chunk of cookie in her hand to prepare for patrol.

  
“Yes Marinette?” The little cute bug asked and Marinette couldn’t help the affectionate smile that pulled at her lips.

  
“Do you mind heading out a little early? I think I need to clear my head a little bit.”

  
“Of course.” The little god flew towards her and she put out her hand for her to land on, “Would you like to talk about it first?”

  
Marinette slouched back in her seat, “I guess. It’s just that I’ve known Adrien for over a year and I still can’t talk to him very well. I still stutter and get nervous and my heart picks up and my mind goes foggy. I like him so much but I’m afraid that if nothing changes then I’m going to lose my chance to really get to know him, you know? I wish I was brave like I am when I’m ladybug. I think I’m ruining my own life because I’m such a wimp.”

  
Tikki sat on her hand and looked at her thoughtfully, “That’s hardly true Marinette! You are one of the bravest people I know in and out of the mask! But I see what you mean, but I don’t think it’s something you should push! You are in no way ruining your life by taking it slow.” she floated up and put her little hands on each of Marinette’s cheeks, her reach barely able to get much farther than the corners of her lips, “ You are him are friends at least. If you’re that worried about it you can try hanging out with him a little more. Maybe in situations where you don’t have to talk too much. You still hang him with the moon so you just need to get more comfortable with him!”

  
Her mouth fell open, “I do not hang him with the moon!” she declared and Tikki gave her a knowing look. Marinette’s shock faded and she sighed, “Okay, maybe a little. He’s just so perfect! It’s hard not to be dazzled by him. But of course I like him for more than just that.”

  
Tikki flew back to her hand and retrieved the chunk of cookie she had left behind, “I know. You don’t have to try and prove anything to me. I know you have a very big heart Marinette!”

  
Marinette smiled and pulled the little bug up to nuzzle her, “You are so sweet to me.”

  
Tikki giggled, “I know! Now do you still want to head out?”

  
Pulling her hand back a little to look in the Kwami’s eyes she nodded, “Yeah, I still feel like stretching a little.”

  
“Alright! Let’s go then.” Tikki flew into the air and with the words Marinette said every time she found herself in her ladybug costume.  
She took less than a second to get up on her balcony and with her yoyo she swung of into the dying sun.

  
Marinette started to take a few laps around town. Her mind thinking as the cool wind blew on her face and caused her pug tails to bounce around. Familiar thoughts came to her as she twisted and turned over the roofs of Paris. She wanted to push them out since they really got her nowhere but she couldn’t stop them.

  
What is it about being ladybug that made her so calm and confident? She had no doubt that as ladybug she could fall from the sky, scoop Adrien up, and declare her love for him. Yet, as Marinette she couldn’t look into his gorgeous eyes without breaking out into a sweat. She knew it was the mask. That was obvious. She didn’t have to be nervous when she was someone that wasn’t herself. It brought out the parts of her that she usually only shared with people she was really comfortable with like Alya, but it also gave her a sense of bravery that she never felt outside of the costume. She probably wouldn’t be able to fight crime if it wasn’t for that. She just wished there was some way to move that part of ladybug into her normal life. Wishes she could be as outgoing, brave, and smart as she was under the mask.

  
She snorted, that really wasn’t going to happen.

  
Finally realizing that she really wasn’t clearing her head she headed off to the meeting spot. It was a random roof that had no significance except for the face that Chat had liked the little tabby cat that sat inside the house to bask in the sunny rays during the day. She was surprised he had even remembered it to suggest it when the two of them had started patrolling at night.

  
At first she thought that she would forget where the house was, and she had the first few times, but as she was coming up on it she knew that it was now a building she would never forget.

  
Her feet touched down lightly on the flat surface and she moved to sit on the edge, her feet dangling over into the empty air below. She was still fairly early and figured that Chat wouldn’t show up for a while. She didn’t have much to do so she looked up at the sky and tried to see if it was dark enough for any start to be showing themselves yet.

  
“My Lady.” A voice said behind her and her head turned casually to look behind her, spotting Chat standing a few feet behind her, “You are here early.”

  
She stood up and dusted off her back side just in case it was covered in dirt, “I could say the same for you Chatton.”

  
“You are not wrong there.” He stepped the few feet it took to close the distance between them, “Can I ask what my lady is doing here early on such a purrfectly beautiful night?”

  
“Just felt like it,” She shrugged and Chats eyes seemed to sadden a little. She had always kept at a distance because she didn’t want their real lives to cross with their secret lives. Of course she trusted chat with her life, but at the same time she didn’t know if she wanted him to see her for she truly was. It was stupid, but sometimes she got scared that he wouldn’t like who she really was under the mask. However, she could tell that the longer they were together the more he wanted to get to know her, and the more it hurt him when she held back. She gazed into his eyes for a few more seconds before she sighed, “I needed to get out and clear my head. It didn’t really work.”

  
She could tell that his face was struggling between being upset that something was troubling her and happy that she had shared that with him, “I see, is there anything I can help with? I’ve been told I’m a pawsitivly good listener.”

  
Marinette brought her finger up to try and hide the giggle that slipped from her lips. His puns could be annoying, but sometimes she found them a little cute, “Not when you are throwing your silly puns at me.”

  
He gave a pretend wounded look, “My lady, when will mew admit that mew are lion about how wond-fur-ful mew think my purr-ns are?

  
Marinette covered her ears, “Oh god, could you have fit any more puns into that sentence? I think I’m about to puke.”

  
Chat reached out and grabbed the arm closest to him so he could pull it away from her ear, “My lady, you pawsitivly wound me.” She laughed and pushed him on the chest lightly so he stumbled back a little. It was amazing how Chat and his stupid puns could always make her feel a little better. However after a second the atmosphere fell again, “Do you want to talk about it for real though?”

  
She watched him and he gave her a nervous smile, probably already knowing that she was about to turn him down. They had had this conversation a million times before. He would give anything to get to know her and she knew it. Keeping to herself was the smart thing to do, safer for both of them, so why did she suddenly feel the urge to tell all her secrets to those piercing green eyes? Usually she could squash it down, her more rational side reminding her of the costs, but today she was tired and a little depressed. Could it hurt to talk a little with someone she considered one of her best friends?

  
She bit her lip and jerked with her head for them to sit down on the ledge again. Chats eyes blew wide in surprise and his mouth fell open with a little popping sound.  
She walked over and reclaimed her spot when she realized he hadn’t moved, “Don’t make me change my mind.” She called over her shoulder and he scrambled to sit down by her side, only a few inches separating their thighs.

  
Once he had completely settled in he turned his green eyes to her, giving her his full attention, “This must be something serious if you want to talk to me about it.” he said calmly but she could see the slight jiggle of his leg that told her he was a little nervous and excited.

  
She sighed and let her feet start swinging, “I guess so. I guess I kind of figured after how long it’s been its okay to talk a little bit.” She expected him to say something but he remained silent so she continued, “I guess it something you might understand too. Do you ever feel like you are a different person when you have the mask on?”

  
His eyes lit up in understanding, “Yes of course. There are freedoms that come along with that mask that I never get at home. I get to be the me I’m not allowed to be. I didn’t realize you felt like this too.”

  
Marinette’s gut clenched. She had always figured it was like that for him from hints she got from what he had said over the year, but he had never said it out loud like that, “I’m sorry it’s like that for you chat.” She said softly.

  
“Thank you, but my problems isn’t what we are talking about right now.”

  
“Right” she said with a nervous chuckle, her brain still yelling at her to stop talking before it’s too late. Glancing back at Chat she could see the trust and openness he was broadcasting to her through his face and body language. Once again she was hit with the overwhelming desire to confide in him. He was probably the only person in the world who understood her anyways, “For me I guess it’s more like I’m not very confident of a person outside the mask, “She could see that chat opened his mouth so say ‘really? You?’ before he got a better sense and shut it, “In the mask I’m able to do things that I would never be brave enough to do without it. And I guess I’m frustrated, because there is something I want more than anything, but I’m too nervous and scared to pursue it. I feel like ladybug is way better than me.”

  
It was quiet and sudden regret washed over her. She knew she shouldn’t have said anything. Now she felt completely stupid and Chat thought she was strange.

  
“I’m sure that isn’t true. It’s not like you are a different person under that mask. No matter what you are like when you are not ladybug, the you who comes out when you are only ladybug is there too. No matter who you are, you are the brave, strong, charming, beautiful girl I have gotten to know. Mask or no mask.”

  
Chats words were sweet but she didn’t know if she could believe them. They sounded empty when they hit her ears even though she knew he had to believe them with his whole heart. However he was a silly blind boy who hung her up with the moon. Just like she hung Adrien.

  
“You’re too kind Chat, but you never met the other me.” He words came out almost as a dejected sigh, “I bet you wouldn’t like me that much if you met me.” And of course he had met her, and he hadn’t seemed to care that much about her. Had almost been more annoying and egoistic in front of Marinette then ladybug. To her that proved how little he thought of her.

  
“I don’t need to, because you are ladybug and ladybug is you. You talk like you are two different people but that’s not true. I’m not the same outside the mask, but both of them are the real me, two sides of a coin. Maybe you wouldn’t like the normal me either, but I have to believe that we would get along as well as we do in the mask, because no matter what we wear or what we do, we are who we are.”

  
Marinette blinked, “That’s was actually a really cool thing to say Chat.”

  
He beamed at the praise, his chest puffing out, “Of course my lady, I only speak the truth.”

  
She tried to bite back a smile but it still came. She realized that even after talking to Alya and Tikki, Chat had made her feel better the most.

  
Without thinking too much about it she leaned forward and wrapped him in a hug, “Thanks Chat. You made me feel a little better.”

  
Of course channeling her inner ladybug in front of Adrien wasn’t as easy as he was saying, but it was nice to hear him say that Marinette and ladybug were the same person. It was hard to believe, but hearing it from him made it a little easier to swallow.

  
“I’m glad. Is there anything else you want to talk about?” His eyes almost looked hopeful, he was grasping for anything he could get, any moment he could get between them that was personal. It made her heart ache a little, like it always did when she came face to face with the fact she hurt him a little every time she kept things from him.  
“No Chatton, that’s all for tonight.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek lightly. His eyes went wide and his face limp. His hand came up to touch where she had kissed him and she couldn’t help but laugh under her breath at the sight.

  
Standing up she poked him on the shoulder, “Okay, it’s time for us to go.”

  
He pouted, his playfulness coming back in full swing, “Do we have to? I’d be content to sit here and listen to you talk all night, my lady.”

  
Crossing her arms she shot him and unamused look, “No, we have to make sure everything in peacefully Paris. Don’t make me push you off the edge you lazy cat.”

He scrambled to his feet, knowing that she would never actually push him off, but not wanting to risk it anyways. Without another word they took off into the night, swinging from building to building under the starry sky.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning Marinette couldn’t stop thinking about chat. She couldn’t help but wonder if confiding him had been a mistake. It was a rule she had kept for so long and it felt weird to have him know something so personal about herself. Yet, on the other hand, he really had made her feel better. What was the point of having a super hero partner if not to talk about the baggage that comes along with being a super hero? And it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, she could sing her trust to every news camera if she had to, it was just that she was scared.

  
It made her feel a little better that he hadn’t laughed at her when she talked about it. It made it even better that in a sense he had the same problem. By the time she got to school she was feeling better about the whole situation.

  
Sliding into her seat next to Alya they started chatting about Ladybug, like they did at least a few times every day. Alya said that they had been spotted patrolling last night and that at one point Chat had ran into a poll, to busy goofing off to notice it in front of him. Marinette had to hold back her laugh at the memory. She had tried to warn him but he was too busy yelling silly puns at her, trying to get her to be less serious, when the poll supposedly ‘came out of nowhere’.

  
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Adrien duck his head, his ears turning a little red.

  
“How many people saw it?” She asked, trying to remember where exactly in the city that had been.

  
“Only one person, but they were filming it.” Alya was tapping on her phone, probably pulling it up from where she had shared it on the Ladyblog.

  
Adrien flipped around in his seat a slight blush on his face. Marinette’s heart picked up just looking at his face. She felt like hear ears strained just to hear what he was going to say, “Someone caught Chat running into a poll on camera?”

  
“Yeah.” Alya angled the phone so both of them could see the video, “It’s funny, but it looks like it hurt. I feel bad for poor Chat Noir.”

  
They all watched in silence as ladybug swung into the camera, her head turning to call something behind her when Chat ran into the poll at the same time, a loud thunk ringing across the street to where the person was filming. Almost like he was in a cartoon he slid slowly down the poll till he collapsed on the ground on his back. Then, as if to torture Chat more, the video started again but in slow motion. Adrien had to look away as if it was too painful to watch.

  
“I hope he’s okay.” Marinette said mostly for show. She herself knew for fact that he was fine. His cheek had been red where the impact was made but when she suggested he go home he refused. By the end of the night his face was back to normal so she figured it really hadn’t been that bad.

  
“Me too. Though maybe next time he shouldn’t be so stupid.” Adrien grumbled and both girls shot him a look. No matter how much she liked Adrien, she didn’t want to hear him say anything bad about Chat.

  
“I thought you liked Chat Noir?” Alya asked confused.

  
“No, I do, not as much as ladybug but still. I just think that if he can’t be serious enough on his patrols how is he going to be any good at fighting the actual akuma.”

  
Marinette’s brow furrowed, and even though her heart was racing in nervousness her voice came out stern, “C-chat is very responsible when it comes to fighting akuma. “ She cringed when she heard herself stutter but pushed on, “Ladybug would never be able to fight akuma if not for him. Isn’t it fair to give him some slack when there is no danger?”  
Adrien looked at her shocked, probably unused to her having such a strong tone with him, “Oh, uh, yeah I guess.”

  
“He’s only human.” She muttered and suddenly embarrassment coursed through her. She had practically just yelled at her crush. She wanted to die.

  
“You are right. I should cut him some slack. He’s not perfect and I should understand that. Thank Marinette.”

  
He turned back around in his seat and Marinette was left with confusion. Why had he thanked her? She guessed she had changed his mind about chat but that didn’t seem like something he would thank her for. Before she could really get into class started and she pushed the thought out of her brain. Instead focusing on the fact that she had a conversation with Adrien again, and besides being a little harsh and stuttering once, didn’t go bad at all.

~ ~ ~ ~

Patrol came again and this time chat was waiting for her. He was in the same place she had been the night before staring down at the street below him. She walked up to him silently and sat down beside him. He didn’t even move or speak to acknowledge her presents. He was looking down solemnly and she rested a hand on his shoulder.

  
“Is something wrong Chat? You look like I did yesterday.”

  
His body heaved a huge sigh, “Kind of. I guess I kind of got thinking after yesterday. But we don’t have to talk about it, I know you don’t like to talk about this kind of stuff.”  
A shot of pain went through her heart. Had she been so bad that he didn’t think he could confide in her at all?

“Chat…no…I’m sorry if I made you think that. You are one of the most important people in my life and I’m here to listen if you want to talk.”

  
His eyes finally came up to meet hers and there was a glitter of happiness amongst the sorrow, “Really?”

  
She nodded her head and she squeezed his shoulder, “Of course.”

  
His lips perked up in a small smile before it fell again, “Do you think I’m a joke?”

  
Marinette’s face scrunched up in confusion, “What? A joke? No way. Why would you say that?”

  
He bit his lip and casted his eyes down before he started talking about, “I found this video of me running into the poll last night. I can’t help but think that I’m a screw up and that you are carrying the team. I’m just no good and you are probably better off without me. You would probably have a better time if someone more serious was Chat Noir.”  
Her mouth popped open and for a second she had no idea what to say, “Chat, no way. You are so important to what we do. Sure you are a little goofy but I like that about you. I could never be ladybug if you were not Chat Noir. I would never ever want anyone else to be my Chat noir.” He wasn’t looking at her so she grabbed his chin and pulled his face up to look at her, “Do you hear what I’m saying Chat Noir? You are one of the most important people in my life and in no way shape or form are you a screw up or a joke. You save hundreds of people’s lives every time an akum comes. I rely on you with my life. Never think that you are anything less.”

  
His lip trembled a little before he shot forward and pulled her into a hug, “Thanks Ladybug. That means a lot to hear from you.” They held each other in silence for a while before he started to laugh.

  
“Why are you laughing?” She asked, wishing she could see his face.

  
“Oh, it’s just that… We went from barely talking about anything besides akuma and making jokes to each of us having a little bit of an emotional crises two days in a row. I guess it’s funny…but it’s really nice. I like this.”

  
She gripped him tighter to her chest, “I’m sorry chat. I’m sorry I always kept you out and made you feel so alone. I knew…but I don’t think I realized how much I was hurting you till now. From now on, I’m willing to open up a little more.” He pulled back, his face covered with shock, “No identities though.”

  
He pouted a little but pulled her back into the hug, “Okay, I understand, this is good enough for me.”

  
They sat in each others embraces for a little while longer before they finally got up. And with the knowledge that they had each other’s backs no matter what they swung off into the night.


	2. Never Good Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has started to question if there is something more behind Ladybug opening up to him. However he is stuck behind the hurtle of wondering if he would ever be good enough to be liked by her anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kicked out another chapter really quick in hopes that more people will be interested in what i'm writing. I was supposed to write what was going to kick off the whole story in this chapter but that didn't happen because Adrien needed more time to talk about how he was feeling.
> 
> Once again I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and it makes you want to stick around for more. Hit me up with a comment if you got anything you want to say or a kudo.

Adrien paced back and forth in his room, Plagg lazily watching him from his spot on Adrien’s bed. His mind was full of thoughts of ladybug. He kept thinking back and trying to figure out why she had started opening up to him. Had something happened in her personal life that had changed her opinion of him? Was she struggling so much that she felt that see needed his support that bad? He wasn’t complaining about it, not even close. He just was trying to find the reason before his mind got away from him.

Maybe she likes me? The thought kept popping up over and over in his head. His hand kept moving up to where she had kissed his cheek in awe. He knew he was deluding himself but he couldn’t help but hope.

He had been in love with her for over a year, and this was the first time she had ever really opened up to him. Was it that bad of him to hope that maybe that was the reason behind it?

Yeah, it probably was.

Shuffling over to his bed he fell down face first with a long groan. Plagg zoomed out of the way just in time to avoid being squashed. He floated in the air above Adrien’s still form, cradling his half eaten cheese as if he was afraid Adrien was going to take it.

“Seriously?” he whined, “What is your problem anyways? You have been acting weird the last three days. I’m getting real tired of hearing you groan.”

Adrien moved his head so one eye was peeking out at Plagg, “You wouldn’t understand.” He mumbled and moved his head back into the blankets.

Plagg watched him for a moment before rolling his eyes, “Then it’s about Ladybug isn’t it?” The room was quiet as he waited for him to talk, but he never so Plagg flew back down to sit on Adrien’s pillow, “Whatever, it’s not like I care.”

It was silent for a few more beats before Adrien groaned again. He didn’t even know what to think anymore. He wanted so badly for it to be real that he was sure he was tricking himself. He didn’t want to do anything rash and then regret it later. As Chat Noir he seemed to do that a lot anyways so he didn’t really need to add a reckless Adrien into the mix.

“Either quit groaning or tell me about it. I really don’t want to be hearing this all night.” Adrien looked up just in time to see Plagg to eat the last of the cheese and shoot him a look.

“You don’t know anything anyways. You only care about cheese. You don’t know about love.” His words where mumbles since his lips were still pressed into the blanket but Plagg still seemed to understand him.

“I may only love cheese, but I’ve lived for a long time. I’ve seen humans fall in love before.” He floated closer to Adrien and flicked him on the forehead with his tiny fingers, “Don’t underestimate me.”

Adrien’s eyes narrow and he lifted his head farther away from the mattress, “If I didn’t know better it sounds like you want to help me.”

“Good thing you know better. I just want you to stop being annoying.” Plagg crossed his arms and made an ‘hmpf’ sound. Adrien couldn’t stop the smile that spread on his lips.

“You love me Plagg, just admit it. You are worried about me.” Adrien reached out and corralled Plagg to his faze, nuzzling him as the cat struggled to fly away.

“You’re insane!” he cried and beat his hands on Adrien’s cheeks until he finally let him fly off.

“Paw-sibly.” He smirked and even Plagg sighed at the pun, “Now come back since you convinced me to trust you with my sorrows about love.”

Plagg shook his head faster than Adrien thought possible on that little body, “No way, not after the way you manhandled me. I’m a god, not a toy!”

Adrien pouted and scooted across the large bed to get closer to where Plagg floated, “But without your help how am I ever going to resolve my problems? Help me obi wan plaggobi, you’re my only hope.” He reached out an arm desperately to Plagg before he collapsed dramatically on the bed.

“What was that supposed to mean? Is that one of your dumb references?” Plagg sounded disgusted and Adrien laughed into the mattress.

“If it was are you going to help me?” He looked up again to see Plagg flying across the room to sit on his computer desk, rooting around in Adrien’s backpack for more cheese that Adrien knew wasn’t there.

“No way, you didn’t want my help anyways.” He came to the same conclusion and came out of the bad disgruntled.

“I know but I’m now interested in what you would have to say.” Adrien rolled on his side to watch the small cat float around the room as if he was going to find more cheese somewhere else, “Would you do it for cheese?”

The Kwami shot a look over his shoulder, one that was clearly interested before he shook his head again, “Nope, you can’t bribe me. You wouldn’t even listen seriously.”

“But I would!” he batted his eyelashes innocently, “Do I look like the kind of boy who would ask for advice and not listen to it?”

“Yes.” Plagg said deadpan before he began his search again.

He gasped in horror and a hand flew to his chest, “I’m offended!”

“I really don’t care.” Plagg finally gave up and came to rest on the bed again, “Take your dramatics somewhere else and stop bothering me.”

“No way. I’m going to keep moaning and groaning until you listen to me.” He grinned evilly at Plagg and he almost thought he saw Plagg shiver.

“I don’t believe you.” He muttered just as Adrien dropped him head back into the mattress and started groaning and moaning dramatically.

“Oh ladybug!” he turned just enough to be heard clearly, “I have so many woes to tell Plagg about! Why won’t he listen?” Plagg watched him as if he was crazy as the moans started up again.

Finally with a sigh Plagg floated over and tugged on his hair, “Fine, shut up and I’ll listen. You better get me cheese afterwards too.”

Adrien’s noises came to a complete stop and he raised his head to look at his Kwami, “Will you really?”

“Yeah,” he grumbled, “I don’t really have a choice do I?”

“Nope!” Adrien shifted to a sitting position and looked down at the small cat. He opened his mouth and then froze. He realized that maybe he wasn’t as prepared to talk to Plagg as he thought he was. It had been fun and distracting while he had been teasing Plagg, but now that he actually had his attention all his nerves and anxieties came back full force. He bit his lip and ran his hand through his shaggy hair, “Do you think Ladybug could actually ever love me back?

Plagg looked at him, his green eyes searching his face, “I mean I guess. I’m pretty sure you are handsome. Don’t you have to be handsome to be a model?”

“I guess.” Adrien shot a look over at his mirror to see his reflection, “Supposedly I am. But I don’t think Ladybug cares about that. She’s a person that looks so much deeper then what’s on the outside. That’s why she’s so amazing. She loves people with such a big heart. I can tell in the way she talks to civilians and how she desperately tries to save anyone. But I can’t help but think that I’m not good enough to be loved by her, you know? And now she’s showing me attention that she never shown me before and I can’t help but want it to be because I finally got pulled into the group of people that are worthy of her love. But I’m sure it’s not that at all and it’s something else.”

Adrien paused to look at Plagg, waiting for him to say something. He wasn’t expecting something that would make him feel better, not really, that wasn’t the type of personality Plagg had. He just wanted to hear a second person, someone who would tell him he was crazy.

“Do you really think you don’t deserve her love?” Plagg voice sounded like he had just heard the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard in his life.

“Well yeah. She’s Ladybug and I’m just…me.” Adrien pointed at himself as if that was all the proof he needed for Plagg to believe him.

“What does that mean ‘just me’” Plagg floated closer and landed on his knee. His look concentrating on Adrien’s face in an intensity he had never seen before.

“I don’t know.” Adrien’s hand moved unconsciously to rub at the back of his head, “Ladybug is amazing. She saves the day every time and she is so smart, and beautiful, and brave, and just overall amazing. But me, I’m just a goofy kid tagging along behind her. I feel like I’m always screwing up and making a fool of myself. There’s videos of me falling on my face or running into walls or tripping over roofs all over the internet. People use reactions gifs of me flying through the air and falling all the time. I’m a joke and rightly so.”

“So you mess up sometimes.” Plagg shrugged nonchalantly, “You are just a boy. It should be expected. I don’t see the problem here.” 

Adrien looked down sadly, his chest churning with dark feelings, “I guess. But it’s not just that. At least that’s expected from Chat you know? He’s the goofy sidekick that isn’t really needed. But Adrien isn’t any better. I let myself get walked on all the time. I follow my dad’s rules even though they keep me in a cage. I’m quiet and polite and while those things are me…they are not how I really feel. I feel like I’m wearing a mask and I know that if ladybug met Adrien she wouldn’t be that impressed.”

“That isn’t what you said to ladybug. You said that no matter if you are wearing the mask or not you are who you are and that you would both like each other no matter what.” Plagg remembered him saying that very well, actually thought it was clever of him to say at the time. 

“Yeah, but that was more for her. I know she is going to be amazing no matter what.” Adrien knew that without a doubt. Ladybug might not be as outgoing or brave without the mask but he was positive that that didn’t mean anything. Ladybug was always going to be amazing and smart and just otherworldly no matter how she acted. There was just no possible way any of that could go away because of a mask.

“So why not for you?” Plagg’s voiced pulled him out of his train of thought and his face fell away from the little smile he had gotten when thinking about ladybug.

“Well, because in either form I’m not that great. I’m not great in the mask and I’m not great without it.”

Plagg groaned and his little hands smacked his forehead, “You are the stupidest boy I have ever met. Do you really believe what you are saying? Do you ever hear what idiotic things you are saying?”

Adrien ducked his head, “But it’s not dumb, it’s true.”

Plagg flew off his knee and took a distressed lap in the air, “This sounds like a joke. What kind of model has self-esteem issues? Adrien Agreste, one of the hottest teen models ever to walk the earth.”

“That’s not a very funny joke.” Adrien mumbled and Plagg flew down to thump him on the head.

“That’s not the point and you know it. I’m saying that you are being ridiculous. I’m not one for nice words so you should listen to me carefully. You are a very amazing boy. You juggle everything that’s thrown at you from schoolwork, to modeling, to being Chat Noir. Your friends like you a lot and girls fawn over you left and right. You are not a joke. Did you not believe a word that ladybug said yesterday at all?”

Adrien wanted to believe Plagg’s words but they fell flat on his ears, “I listened, but it’s not that they don’t think what they are saying is true, it’s just that they don’t know the real me. They are too blinded by the fame and my father’s name to realize that I’m just a boring screw up.”

Plagg looked like he was about to scream, “If I was bigger I would slap you on the face right now. You’re being so stupid I can’t even form words to explain how stupid you are.” He floated down and got right up in Adrien’s face, “I don’t even know how to help you at this point. You need to talk to your friends or something.”

“I don’t want to bother them.” Adrien thought about talking to Nino and its felt extremely ridiculous.

“Too bad,” Plagg crossed him arms and stopped his foot down as if what he was saying was final, “you’re going to talk to someone or I won’t transform you to run around Paris and cool your head when you need to.”

Adrien froze. Take away his freedom? He would never survive without knowing that he could turn into Chat Noir and run across the rooftops until his bones were tired and his mind clear whenever he needed to, “fine, I’ll talk to Nino tomorrow if you are going to make me. It won’t change anything thought”

“Yeah I am and yes it will.” Plagg flew back down and took up the spot he had been sitting in before the whole thing started, “Now go get me some cheese.”

~ ~ ~  
The next day at school he felt extremely stupid for what he was about to do. He had thought of what he could say over and over again the night before but nothing sounded right. Nothing didn’t sound pathetic. Once his bodyguard had dropped him off he made his way into the building where Nino was already sitting in at their table and he felt a new wave of nerves shoot though his veins. 

“What’s up dude?” Nino asked one he was seated.

“Nothing much. What’s up with you?” The words that Adrien needed to say to start the conversation kept swirling around in his head but his lips wouldn’t move to form the words.

“I mixed a new song last night. You should listen to it later. It’s sick I promise.” Nino beamed as he talked about what he loved. Adrien had always been jealous of how much Nino loved music and how good he was at creating it. All he had was modeling and he really didn’t care about it too much.

“I would love to.” Adrien shot him a genuine warm smile. Even in his jealously he was happy for his friend and he loved hearing all the new things he came up with.

Nino turned back to his phone, having got a text from someone, and Adrien started at him. His mouth opened, then shut, opened, then shut. Why was it so hard to talk about this? Was it because it was stupid like Plagg had said? No, it really didn’t feel stupid to him. It must have been that he didn’t want to make anything awkward between the two of them. 

He was beginning to chicken out when he thought about Plagg’s threat again. He really didn’t want to lose that. He wasn’t sure why Plagg had pulled such a big threat out for this problem. Was it because he cared that much? Did plagg even care that much about him? Did the cat care much about anything besides cheese?

Probably not.

Adrien moved his hand to get Nino’s attention again when two new people entered the classroom. The first was Alya. She looked over her shoulder and talked as Marinette walked in behind her. She must have said something funny because Marinette’s face broke out into laughter and the sound of it was pretty cute.

He watched the two of them as they moved to sit down and thought about them. Were they a possibility to talk to? Would it be easier than talking to Nino? He wasn’t at all as close to them as he was to Nino, but they were his friends too. He watched them from the corner of his eyes a little longer before he realized that he would probably feel more awkward talking to them then he would to Nino. Nino always had his back and he trusted him with his life. It would be dumb of him to go to anyone else about this.

Turning back around he realized he tried thinking of how he could bring up the conversation again. However, he quickly realized that the room had been steadily filling up and that there were too many people in the classroom to talk to him. Relief flooded his system as the stress of bringing up the conversation flew from his body.

“Hey Adrien!” A voice called behind him and he turned to see Alya looking at him. Marinette was looking at him too but she wasn’t looking at him in the eyes but instead down casted at his chest. He wondered why she barely ever looked into his eyes.

“What’s up Alya?” He shifted around so he was facing her fully.

“I was just wondering if you did the homework. Marinette and I got different answers for number six and we can agree on it.” Alya looked at him piercingly through her glasses like she always did. As a reported Alya had a look about her that said that she was going to find out all your secrets no matter what. He appreciated her strong personality but her stubbornness, especially when it came to his secret identity, scared him.

“Oh sure, let me pull it out.” Turning back around he grabbed his backpack and unzipped it. He was careful not to disturb Plagg who was snoring on a coat he had left for him in there and pulled out the binder for the class. He unclipped the rings and gently pulled the paper out, turning around to set it in front of the two girls, “There you go.”

They both leaned forward at the same time, their eyes searching the paper until Alya jumped up and hollered, “Yahoo! I was right.”

Marinette pouted and pulled the paper closer to her as if to make sure she was reading it right “How though? I did the problem perfectly.”

“Not perfectly enough!” Alya waggled her finger in front of her friends face, “Besides you shouldn’t be that surprised, math isn’t your strongest subject.”

Marinette lifted her paper with a frown, “But I spent forever on that one. I was so confident.”

Alya settled back into her seat, “Sorry sweet cheeks. Maybe next time call me and I can help you through it.”

“Okay,” Marinette sighed dejectedly and set her paper down. Adrien found that he was smiling as he watched the two. He was always amazed by their friendship. They were so close and they always looked like they were having fun. Of course he and Nino’s friendship was just as strong, but it was always nice to see them interacting.

“Here is your paper,” Alya said, holding the paper out to him and shocking him out of his thoughts, “Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Marinette echoed even though she still looked upset.

He took the paper back gently and set it down on top of his binder, “Yeah no problem. And if it makes you feel any better that one stumped me a little.”

Her eyes widened, “R-really?”

He nodded and smiled a little at how surprised she looked. There was even a slight blush under her freckles, “Yeah, so don’t beat yourself up about it.”

She smiled and ducked her head as if she was embarrassed, “Okay, thanks Adrien.”

He flashed both girls a winning model smile before he turned back around in his seat and waited for class to begin.

~ ~ ~ ~

When lunch came around Adrien was just as nervous as before. He had listened to Nino’s new song and praised it up and down. But now as they munched silent on their food he knew it was time.

“Hey Nino?” He practically chocked the words out and his friend looked up with a genuinely open face.

“Yeah?” his friend didn’t even know what was about to come and he instantly felt bad for him.

“Can I talk to you about something….kind of serious?” Adrien felt a strong urge to tell him never mind and run away but the words were out there and he sat nervously.

Nino looked at him for a second before he put his food down and gave him his full attention, “Of course, is something wrong?” Adrien opened his mouth then shut it, a slight groan filling the air instead. Nino gave him a strange look before he put his hand on Adrien’s shoulder, “Did something happen?”

Adrien dragged hands down his face, “No…Sort of? Ah, I’m sorry this is hard for me to say.”

Nino’s eyes were understanding, “Don’t worry, and take your time. We got all of lunch.”

Feeling grateful, they both sat there in silence as he tried to fit the words into his mouth. He took a deep breath before he looked up to meet Nino’s eyes again, “So…ah, the thing is…Do you think I’m like…a major screw up?”

Nino’s face froze. It was clear his emotions didn’t know what to do. Should he laugh? Should he be mad? Should he be upset? Should he be disbelieving? Eventually his face landed on surprise, “What are you talking about? No not at all? What happened that made you think this?”

Adrien chest was squeezing tight. He was happy to hear Nino say it, it really meant a lot, but at the same time he couldn’t fully believe it. And on the other hand he didn’t know how to explain why he asked it without giving away that he was Chat Noir. He had to try though, “It’s just that…..I’ve never really felt like I was good enough. I don’t have any special talents and I just let my dad drag me along to whatever he wants me to do. I guess I just don’t feel like there is anything good about me.”

It was Nino’s turn for his mouth to gape open and closed like a fish out of water, “That’s the farthest from the truth you could possibly be. You are one of the coolest dudes I have ever met. I wouldn’t be your friend if that wasn’t true. Even past all your modeling and fame I like the Adrien who is sitting next to me right now and nothing could change that. You know that right? That I think you are super awesome?”

“Yeah…I guess.” Adrien mumbled but once again it was hard for him to believe.

“This has to be coming from somewhere.” Nino tried to pull on Adrien’s arm to force him to look at him but Adrien didn’t budge.

“Yeah…” He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. He hadn’t told Nino about being in love with ladybug. It would be way too hard to explain. Yet, at this point, it was kind of important to talk about. He took a second to try and figure out how to say it and when the words finally came to him he spoke, “Okay…so…I haven’t told you this and I feel bad about it, but I like someone.”

His eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing behind his hat, “You do? Do I know them?”

He shook his head, “No, it’s someone from outside of school. I’ve known them for a while and we were kind of friends but we didn’t really know a lot about each other. She kept to herself and everything between us was very professional. But recently she has opened up to me a little and told me some deep personal stuff I started to wonder if she likes me now. But at the same time I’m just me. I’m not anyone great so why would she like me?”

Nino’s face seemed to be in overload as he processed what he had just been told, “So you like a girl, for a long time and you didn’t tell me…and she suddenly has been very personal with you so you want to know if she likes you, but you think that you, the great, smart, gorgeous Adrien Agreste, are too boring and useless to actually have a girl like him? Am I hearing this right?”

Adrien ducked his head at how ridiculous Nino was making it sound, “Yeah?”

Nino collapsed back into his seat, “I can believe my ears. I knew that you didn’t realize how great you are but this? It’s a new level of insane!”

Adrien’s hand came up as if he was going to bite his thumb nail. It was an old habit and Adrien jerked it back down before it could make contact, “It doesn’t seem insane to me.”

Nino sat back up in his chair, “Yeah, I know which is what makes it even more insane. You are a crazy sweet guy and any girl would love to have you for a boyfriend. You are so full of life and you are so interesting. I think that you should go after this girl. It might help you understand that you are so much better than you think you are.”

Adrien quirked up an eyebrow, “You think so? Do you actually think she would want to go out with me?”

“Well yeah.” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I may not understand the details, but I don’t think girls tell you deep personal things for no reason. She must trust you or want you to get to know her. She probably likes you.”

Despite all the negativity that was crowding inside his mind a huge smile grew on his face. Just the idea that Ladybug liked him made all the stormy clouds in his life go away. However, he still had a seed of doubt. He needed to talk to someone else. Not about the whole not good enough thing, but just another opinion if Ladybug even liked him. He had a good idea of who he could talk to.

“Thanks Nino, you are a good friend.” Adrien shot him a smile that was bright and blinding.

Nino pretended to cover his eyes as if its intensity was hurting his eyes, “Okay man, and no problem. I just hope that you realize how silly it is to think that you are not good enough for a girl to like you.”

Adrien just shrugged, not saying if he did or not.


	3. What Has Been Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian finds the courage through a friend to finally tell Ladybug how he feels. However, things don't always go as well as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, here is the start of the drama. I hope you were looking for something over dramatic cause I got it for you.
> 
> Also I want to thank everyone who had checked out my story so far or left me a kudo or a comment. It means a lot to me!

Marinette was giddy that she had been getting to talk to Adrien more than usual in the past few days. She kept thinking about how just the day before he had tried to cheer her up about the homework. He had been so sweet so nice and so perfect. And then after lunch he had looked kind of down so she had gotten the courage to ask him how he was feeling. He shot her a smile and told her that he was a little tired. She had made a small comment about how he needed to get more rest and he had agreed. It had been so normal and casual that she had almost exploded when it was over.

Grabbing her lunch from her locker she already knew what she was going to be talking to Alya about at lunch. First they would talk about Adrien and about how her progress was going. Alya would congratulate her and then try and get her to make plans to talk to him more. Then after that they would talk about Ladybug. At last night’s patrol Chat Noir had never showed up, only shooting her a message on her yo-yo last second that something had come up. She was a little irritated about that but she understood that sometimes life got in the way. However, people like Alya who checked up regularly to see how the two heroes were would have noticed that Ladybug had been alone. She was already sure from the way that Alya looked that morning that she had a few theories about why.

She made her way out of the back door of school since Alya had wanted to eat out side and was about to round the corner where she was waiting for her when she heard a voice she recognized that was out of place. She skidded to a stop right before she would have been seen and paused to listen. She felt bad for obviously eaves dropping but she had no idea what was going on.

"Hey Alya. Do you have a moment to talk?” The voice had said. The voice of Adrien Agreste, her crush. What could he want from Alya? Especially with such a serious tone of voice.

"Uh. Sure Adrien. What's up?" Alya seemed to be surprise but not phased. Alya always knew how to take things in stride. It was something she admired about her.

It was quiet for a few minutes and it took all of Marinette’s willpower not to look around the corner and see what was happening. Two seconds before she actually did it he spoke up again. He was definitely nervous to be talking to her, "You know about love right? You seem like you would be a expert and I… need some advice"

There was another pause, she was sure Alya would be shocked by that kind of statement. After a few seconds Alya laughed, "Yeah, sure I've been on a few dates with a couple guys and girls. I may not be the most knowledgeable person but I know a few things. What can I help you with?"

Marionettes heart was beating a million miles per hour and all her guilt about listening in on the conversation left her. What was happening?? Adrien liked someone? Who was it? Was he going to tell her? Her heart thumped in a mix of pain and excitement.

The two of them was quiet again and she could hear the sound of Adrien leaning up against the wall next to Alya, "This is sort of embarrassing to talk about… but, well there is this girl I like. We have known each other for a while and we talked but we didn’t really talk if that makes any sense. There was something keeping her from talking to me and I had respected that. However, recently she started talking to me more and I feel like we are a lot closer because of it. I can't help and wonder if this is because she likes me and I want to confess but I don't know if I should. What do you think?”

Marinette didn’t know what to think anymore at this point. Adrien had liked this person for a long time? They talked a lot? Jealousy was starting to burn in her gut but at the same time it made her feel guilty. Did she even have the right to be Jealous in this situation? She had taken her time and just like she expected her chances were slipping between her fingers. She was more upset with herself then she was at the situation at this point.

"Hmm…this sounds like a tricky situation. Do I know this person? It might help if I know what kind of personality they have." Alya said it slowly, she could just imagine the wheels turning in her head as she tried to understand what was going on and what she should say about it. Marinette knew Alya was a loyal friend to the end, but she would help Adrien no matter what. Adrien was her friend too and it wasn’t like she could just turn him away without an explanation.

“Well…” The word was drawn out slowly, “It’s a possibility. But I don't want to say anything."

Alya laughed a knowing laugh. Marinette suddenly felt as if the two of them knew something that she didn’t know that would make this conversation make more sense, "Okay, not a ton of information to go off there, but I think I understand what's happening. And I can tell from the look on your face that you like this girl a lot. I can’t say for certain that she likes you with what you told me, but I think that if you are comfortable with this person and feel like you are close and want to chance it, then confessing is the right thing to do. You will never know unless you try. And knowing you, I'm bet the person likes you at least a little bit. If she is your friend, even if things don’t go well, then nothing too bad can happen."

The silence that kept popping up between them was killing her. She needed to know more, understand more. She wasn’t sure if she should be crying her eyes out or not. She realized that they both had to think and that it was a delicate conversation, but as the outsider with no control over the conversation, she wanted to scream.

Her ears strained if only to hear their breathing and make sure they were still there when there was the sound of Adrien pushing off the wall, “Thank Alya, I think you are right. I can think and stress about what she thinks about me and if she likes me but it will never get me anywhere. If I want to know I’ll have to take it into my own hands and confess to her. I think I’m ready for that now. You have given me some courage, I knew you were the right person to talk to.”

The sound of Alya pushing off the wall accompanied her words, “Yeah, no problem lover boy. I’m always here for you to talk to. I just hope things work out for you" 

“Thanks so much. I hope so too.” His voice was light and airy and Marinette couldn’t handle it anymore. She peeked around the corner of the building to see them waving at each other as Adrien turned to leave to walk off to a table where Nino was waiting for him.

They both watched him in silence until he was sitting down. As soon as she was certain he was out of ear shot she squeaked, “What just happened?" and Alya’s head whipped around to look at her.

Her eyes were wide in surprise as she noticed Marinette looking around the corner at her, “Did you here all of that?” she asked, voice high in shock.

Marinette’s heart was thumping painfully and she could feel tears burning at her eyes. She stepped slowly around the corner and nodded her head. She was afraid if she spoke her voice would crack. She had witnessed with her two eyes that Adrien liked someone and it was not her.

Alya took the steps it took to reach her and grabbed her by her upper arm, “They why do you look like you need to go home and sob for a few days?”

“Adrien likes someone else and is going to ask them out.” Her voice was low and shaky and she used all her willpower to keep the tears in. She didn’t want to cry at school about this.

Alya bit her lip and a smile crept up on her face, “Yeah, but he was totally talking about you.”

Marinette’s whole body froze. All tear production came to a complete stand still. Her eyebrows slowly rose and she looked at Alya like she was crazy, “Where would you even get that idea?”

Alya clucked her tongue and shook her head sadly, “Were you listening to the same conversation? It’s completely obvious!”

Marinette tried to keep her face calm as her heart picked up for a completely different reason. She wanted to believe Alya but that was too good to be true, “I think you are insane. The girl he was talking about had nothing to do with me.”

“But it did, didn’t it?” Alya’s face was lit up with mischievous glee and Marinette wasn’t sure what was going on in her devious brain.

“Obviously no, so explain it to me quickly before I start crying!” She was getting desperate and a bit annoyed with Alya. Why wouldn’t she just spit it out when her entire life was hanging in the balance?

She gripped Marinette’s arms tighter, “Think about it. A girl he has known for while? They talk but there was something from keeping her from really talking to him? Yet, recently she’s been talking to him more and they are closer? Sound like anyone we know?”

Marinette’s arms hung loosely at her sides as the puzzle pieces began to click together. She had known Adrien for a while. She had a hard time talking to him. She recently was getting better at it. Could it possibly be?

“Is it…is it…” The excitement was building up in Marinette’s heart and she suddenly wanted to scream out in joy. But at the same time she kept quiet because could it really be true? Could it be what she had always wanted, “Is it really me?” the words finally rushed out of her and she waited for what Alya was going to say.

“Duh girl, it’s totally you. It has to be!” Alya was practically bouncing up and down in excitement but Marinette was still frozen in shock, her brain traveling faster then she thought possible.

“Can that be real? Am I dreaming? Pinch me.” Her word came out almost without her consent. She felt like she was weightless and walking on air. The world around her didn’t seem real and she could only focus on the feelings that were tumbling around inside her like drunk college students that couldn’t walk, giddy and out of their minds.

There was a quick pinch to Marinette’s arm and she yelped in surprise, “Nope babe, this is as real as it gets. It’s you, it has to be.”

She still wasn’t sure. The information was still processing in her mind. Could it be some other girl? Someone he had met through modeling? Could the coincidence be that great? It couldn’t could it? It explained her all too perfectly. At least, she really wanted to believe that it did.

Could she believe it? Was what she had been waiting for since that fateful day in the rain be coming true? Had her efforts to talk to him payed off? Her hands turned into tight fists at her sided.

It was quiet for one second, two seconds, three second before she exploded, “OHMYGODADRIENMIGHTLIKEMEITHINKIMGOINGTODIECATCHMEALYA!"

Alya laughed loudly as Marinette’s legs went weak and she collapsed into her best friend, “You’re lucky you are light or I would have dropped you.”

“What do I do now?” Marinette was in her own world, completely ignoring what Alya was saying, “He’s going to confess to me? When? Where? Do you think it’s today? Since when has he liked me? I can barely wrap my head around this being real. Pinch me again I’m not convinced.”

Shoving Marinette back to her feet she couldn’t help but laugh again, “I’m not going to pinch you again! You know this is real. I don’t know when or where he will confess to you, but I’ll bet you anything that it will happen soon.”

Marinette brought her hands to her cheeks, they were on fire and once again her smile was as wide as it could possibly go, “I’m so happy. I really hope you are right.” There was still the possibility that they were wrong, but she didn’t have the mind to even entertain it at this point. She was riding on a high of excitement and she never wanted to come down. She wanted to ride it till Adrien asked her out and then ride that new wave for the rest of her life. 

After that Marinette blabbered for the rest of lunch. On multiple occasions she asked Alya to pinch her again and again and only on the tenth time did Alya actually do it a little out of malice. Besides that Alya was extremely happy for her best friend. It warmed her heart to listen to her go on and on about how happy and excited she was. Alya only wished the best for her best friend. Yet there was a small seed of doubt that rested in the back of Alya’s mind. Could it be too good to be true? Marinette was the sweetest girl she had ever known. Out of everybody she knew she felt that Marinette deserved to be happy the most. And if Adrien Agreste was what made her happy and it actually worked out, that would be the most amazing thing ever. Yet, a little voice kept asking, can this really be happening? And if you are wrong, what are you going to do when it’s your fault that her heart gets broken?

~~~~

For the rest of the day Marinette was on cloud nine. She couldn’t stop staring at Adrien anytime he was near her. She kept thinking about how nervous he had been and she would blush, not being able to fully comprehend that it had been her that made him feel that way. There was nothing that could bring her down. Nothing at all. She wasn’t even worried when she watched him get in his car and leave for the day. She realized today was too soon for him to confess. But she figured soon enough it would happen, and that was okay with her.

Only a few times had the seed of doubt popped into her head. She would keep thinking why her? She isn’t that special. What about her made Adrien like her? Could they have been wrong? But then she would remember the evidence, think about how sure Alya had been and the spring would came back into her step. Sometimes miracles happened. And if she was about to be given this one she wasn’t going to complain.

Back at home she kissed her mom and dad on the cheeks. She helped with the bakery until it closed and hummed the whole time happily. Her mom and dad would shoot each other looks as if to ask what was going on with her, but her good mood put them into a good mood too and by the time it was dinner they were all humming and singing.

After dinner came homework and Marinette was sure she had never zoomed through her work before as fast as she did. Nothing was going to bring her down. Nothing would make her feel bad. Today was one of the best days of her life.

She spent the rest of the night before patrol designing clothes. Outfits sprung from her mind faster then she could draw them. She started imagining making some of them and wearing them on her and Adrien’s dates. He would always tell her how amazing they were and how good they looked on her. She would blush and act shy but actually be hanging on every word, every praise. They would hold hands and go on coffee dates and watch movies on her couch. They would even kiss at some point. Kiss! Kissing Adrien would have to be like basking in the rays of the sun. It would be warm and soft and peaceful. She would want to stay in his gentle heat forever.

The imagery made her blush, but she wanted it all the more. She wanted to get to know Adrien more than any other person in the world. She wanted to be the one to make him feel better when he was sad and be the one he wanted to share all his good news with. And for some reason, thanks to her lucky star, she was so close.

Before she knew it it was time for patrol. She called over to Tikki who, after celebrating with her about Adrien, had gone to rest on Marinette’s bed. 

“Is it time to head out?” The little bug asked sleepily.

“Yup! If we leave now we should meet Chat right on time.” The Kwami landed in her hands and yawned. She kissed the bug on its head before an idea flashed across her mind, “Do you think I should tell him about Adrien? I’m so excited that I can barely hold it in!” she paused and thought as Tikki blinked up at her, “That would probably be unprofessional though. He wouldn’t want to hear about my love life.”

Tikki grimaced but Marinette wasn’t paying attention to her at all to ask why. Tikki knew Marinette knew Chat flirted with her, but Tikki also knew that Marinette didn’t think Chat was serious when in fact he was, “Yeah, I’m sure that he doesn’t need to know about that.” Tikki tried to say it in a supporting way even thought she was trying to protect Chats heart. She didn’t know him that well but that didn’t mean she would be okay with seeing his heart broken into bits.

“Yeah, he doesn’t. But I just want to shout it from the rooftops!” Marinette grabbed Tikki lightly and spun happily in a circle as she giggled.

“I’m so happy for you Marinette. I really do hope everything works out for you!” Tikki said once the spinning stopped even thought she was a little dizzy.

“I hope so too!” she smiled but then her eyes caught the clock. In her exhilaration even more time had passed and now she was going to be late meeting up with chat, “Oh oops we have to go. Tikki, spots on!” she called and in a flash of pink light Marinette was once again in her Ladybug costume. She climbed up to her balcony and took off quickly into the night sky, hoping if she moved fast enough Chat wouldn’t have to wait that long.

Reaching the roof she found that he was already there. He was pacing back and forth on top of the roof and she could tell by the stiff way he was holding his shoulders that he was nervous. She landed softly on the edge of the roof and made her way over to him.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked and he jumped in the air like a startled cat. He looked at her with dilated eyes and when he registered that is was her they widened again.

“Ladybug, I didn’t hear you come.” His voice wavered and he cleared it with a single cough.

“You seemed deep in thought, what were you thinking about?” she hadn’t seen chat like that before and she was actually quite confused. Was something eating at him? “Is it the same thing we talked about the other night?”

He looked at her for a few seconds blankly before it hit him what she was talking about, “Oh no… it’s not that. I was thinking about…about…” His voice faded out and he seemed at a loss for words. His jaw moved and it looked like he was grinding his teeth.

Marinette was getting really concerned. She reached a hand out to touch his arm in a comforting way, “Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine.” The words busted from his lips as if he was eager to say anything, “I just need a moment.”

They stood there and after a few moment of just staring at each other as chat seemed to choke on his words. Marinette was more concerned than ever and felt stuck between wanting to make him feel better and wanting him to say what he was trying to say.

“If you don’t want to talk about it it’s okay. You seem to be having a hard time.” She finally decided to try and end his struggling. She didn’t want to leave him like that. She figured if he really didn’t want to talk about it she wasn’t going to push it.

However his hand shot out and grabbed her as if she had tried to leave, “No wait. I need to say this to you.”

His eyes were desperate and she noticed now that he was closer that his lips were chapped. It looked as if he had licked them over and over again till they had gone raw. Was he that nervous?

“Okay, I won’t go home until you say it, alright?” her words seemed to calm him down just a little bit, but as she looked to the sky she realized it was getting later and later. He was obviously stuck and at this rate he wasn’t going to be able to say what he needed to say. He needed to clear his head, and she knew exactly how to do that “How about we go on patrol and you can take your time to think about it? Then we can come back and you can tell me?”

Chat looked at her with a little bit of panic at her suggestion then his eyes fell to the floor. He thought it over for a moment then nodded his head, “Okay, I think that’s a good idea.”

They stood there for another moment, and Marinette was really worried for him. She wanted so badly to know what was going on in that head of his that was getting him so worked up. But instead of pushing him she did just what she said they should do and they took off into the night. 

They started off slow. They swung around almost casually as they hit the places they needed to check on that night. As they kept going Chat got faster and passed her and she found that they were racing across Paris. They made it through their route in record time without the usual talking and stopping and before she knew it she found herself back on the roof.

Chat came down and landed hard. His legs tumbling as he almost crashed to the floor. His back rose and feel harshly as he gulped down air.

She was starting to wonder if that had actually helped him at all. She walked up behind him and places her hand on his back, “Chat?” she asked quietly and he spun around to face her. His eye were wide and he had a half crazed look on his face.

She watched as his tongue swiped nervously across his lips, “It’s now or never. I have to say it now before I lose my courage.”

She couldn’t tell if he was talking to himself or to her but she answered anyways, “Okay chat, I’m listening. What do you need to say?”

He looked down at her and in a flash he was holding her hands. She expected the action to be rough but in truth he was holding her hands gently. His tongue came out one more time before he took a deep breath.

He looked into her eyes in a way she had never seen before. She didn’t know why but her nerves jumped into her throat and she got the feeling that something really important was about to happen, and she didn’t know if she was ready to face it.

“Ladybug.” His voice came out low and rough, “We have known each other for a long time. You have been one of my best friends and the person I can rely on with my life. I’ve always admired you. You are amazing, smart, brave, and beautiful.” As he talked Marinette knew he was building up to something. And on the edge of her mind she knew what it was. She knew what was coming her way but her mind couldn’t fully register it. She felt like she needed to stop him but she couldn’t figure out why. So she let him continue, “It’s been like this for me for a long way, but I never thought that maybe it was the same for you. At least not until recently. And that’s why I need to tell you this.” He took a deep breath and squeezed her hands, “Ladybug, I love you.”

The world stopped for the second time that day, but not in a good way. Her hands were frozen inside of chats and she couldn’t move to pull them away. She couldn’t even think. Love? Did he just say the world love? Loved her? How was that possible? It was a joke right? It didn’t make any sense. 

She knew that Chat loved her, and she loved him too, but not in a romantic way. That’s what he was saying, wasn’t it? He liked her in a romantic way?

Her breathing had stopped and she didn’t know how to start it up again. Chat was watching her, but as the seconds passed his face became more and more worried. It was dawning on him that something wasn’t right.

“Chat.” She finally choked. Her hands slipped from his and both their hands fell to their sides limply, “Chat…I don’t…I can’t…”

As she watched his eyes became shiny with the promise of tears. He knew what she was about to say without saying it, but she had to continue. She reached out to touch his face, expecting him to flinch away, but he let her rest her hand on his cheek, “Oh Chat.’ She started again and she felt a wave of sadness bubble up in her, “I’m so sorry. I love you chat, you are one the most important people to me, but I don’t love you like that. I’m so sorry.”

His chin trembled and she could tell he was fighting back tears tooth and nail. He looked up and blinked a few times before he came back down to meet her eyes, “Is it me? Am I not good enough?” The word came out shaky and thick with tears. 

She felt her own lip tremble, knowing that she was hurting him, “Oh no, not its not you.” He leaned into her hand and his eye closed. He looked like a man waiting for death. Her breath caught before she could bring herself to say what she had to say next, “I like someone else. I have for a long time. He means so much to me. I’m sorry chat. I’m so so sorry”

He didn’t open his eyes but his hand came up to rest on top of hers. She wished she could feel his skin but there was too much leather in the way. Her other hand came up to brush through his blond hair, “I’m so sorry chat. I’m so sorry.” She knew she sounded like a broken record but she didn’t know what else to say. She wanted to make it better bet she knew nothing was going to make this situation better.

Something was broken between them now. Something that never should have been said had been said but she couldn’t blame Chat for that. She would never blame him. She could only blame herself. She had let him hand her his heard and she broke it. She shattered it into a million pieces and she didn’t know if he had the glue to put it back together. It hurt her even more that she couldn’t be that glue for him.

After a few more second he opened his eyes. They were watery but she knew he wouldn’t let them fall. He wouldn’t let himself cry in front of her and she knew it. He didn’t want to hurt her and that was ridiculous. She was the one hurting him and he was trying to make her feel better. 

It made her feel even worse.

How could he be so kind and thoughtful and such an amazing person, but she was still breaking his heart? In that moment she wished more than anything that she loved him. That she had fallen for Chat first. She knew that she could have love him, but she would never tell him that. She wouldn’t because it would hurt him more than he was hurting now.

“My lady.” His voice crackled and popped, “I’m sorry. I should have known better.” He gripped her hand on his face tightly before he let it go and took a step back. Her hand slipped from his face and fell back to her side like dead weight where is swung limply.

He was backing up slowly to the edge of the roof, “Chat wait.” She called out, her hand reaching out as if she could grab him from where she stood.

She needed to talk to him. She needed to make this better somehow. If he left now she didn’t know what would happen to the two of them.

But with one last forced smile he repeated himself again softly, “I’m sorry.” Before he turned and took off into the night, leaving ladybug to look after him. She didn’t even realize she was crying at first till the tears dripped off her chin.

Everything was wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Today was supposed to be one of the best days of her life, so why did she feel so hallow and cold? Why did things have to turn out this way? Why did she have to hurt one of the people she loved most in the world?

Why why why?

Gripping her head she sunk to the floor, tears flowing freely. She didn’t know what to do. She was scared that everything between the two of them was over. She didn’t want to lose him. But maybe that’s what she deserved. She had kept him at a distance and mislead him. She had let him flirt with her and she had kissed is cheek. She had depended on him and let him take away some of her pain. And instead of giving all that back to him she took it all when she couldn’t love him.

What was she going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so it looks like things did not go well at all. Bad advice all around, but how were they supposed to know what was really going on? 
> 
> Once again thanks for reading and please look forward to whats going to happen next!


	4. The Mistakes I Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien tries to deal with the pain after getting his heart broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Another quick chapter. This one is a little shorter then the other ones but I hope its still enjoyable.

Adrien flew through the streets of Paris, only moving on instinct because the world was too blurry to see through his tears. In between jumps he tried to wipe them away but he couldn’t move quick enough to clear them out of the way. A few times he almost slipped and fell because he could hardly concentrate on anything except the pain ripping through his chest. Even his breathing was coming sparsely as if the glob of sorrow in his throat was too big to breathe around.

How could he have been so stupid? How had he let his emotions get out of control? He knew this was going to be the outcome. It was always going to be like this. He could have wished and hoped and looked for every little sign, but Ladybug and him were never meant to be. Just because ladybug had opened up a little to him didn’t mean that she liked him. How had he jumped to that conclusion? Why did he let his friends back him up when they really didn’t know anything?

Why was Adrien a glutton for punishment?

Seeing his house through his tears he moved even faster, shooting through his open window and on onto the floor of his bedroom. As soon as his feet touched down his transformation broke and Plagg flew out of his ring.

“Adrien.” Plagg said solemnly but Adrien wasn’t listening. He threw himself across the room to fall onto his bed. His tears quickly began to dampen the blanket as sobs ripped through his body. 

What was he going to do now? He had loved her for so long. Had hung on her every word and eagerly waited for her praise like a dog begging for a bone. He felt lost, empty, and broken. He loved her so much still but now it had to be over. He had to get rid of what was inside of him that wanted her so badly and it killed him inside. How could you let go of somebody? Could you ever let go of somebody? Was he going to be doomed to love ladybug for the rest of his life and never get anything in return? Another sob ripped through his body at the thought of it. 

He knew that she said it wasn’t him that it was somebody else, and in that moment he hated whoever it was. He hated that someone else was going to be able to love her and it wasn’t him. It pained him to think about how much better than him this person must be. They had to be amazing to catch the attention of someone as otherworldly as ladybug. They must have been smart, strong, and brave unlike him. However, in truth, in wasn’t that hard to be better than him. It was easy to see why she would pick someone over him.

Then, for a second, he hated himself more than anything. Hated himself for being so pathetic. He hated himself for not being able to get what he wanted in life. He hated himself for not being better. He was completely crushed.

“Adrien.” Plagg said again softly and came to rest by the top of his head, “Adrien, I’m sorry.” He started to pet Adrien’s head like he was the cat as if he thought that would somehow stop the crying. It did nothing to sooth his broken heart.

He couldn’t help to think about the word sorry. That’s what she had said when she had broken his heart. That’s what he said when he realized how much he had screwed up. That’s the only word that he could think of when he realized that he never should have voiced his feelings. And now it was what Plagg was saying because he pitied him and his broken heart. 

Everything was a mess, everything.

Curling up in a ball Adrien’s hands came up to grip at his heart. As if there was some way to stop the searing pain that flashed through his veins with every heartbeat. His mind was banging like drums as it asked him why he was not good enough. Why couldn’t he be better? Why had he been so stupid to think someone like him could ever have someone like her?

Though in truth he never really thought he could have her. He had said that to Plagg and Nino. And then he had been dumb enough to believe them when they told him he was wrong. He was dumb enough to believe in some weird way that Chat Noir was better than Adrien. That maybe Adrien was the plain boy who was lead around like a dog, but Chat was the super hero, he was the one who could flirt endlessly and save people he cared about. He thought that if anyone had a chance at happiness it would be Chat. That had been dumb too. Because not even Chat was good enough.

He wasn’t good enough.

Plagg kept trying to sooth Adrien as he cried uncontrollably. He had never seen Adrien like this and it scared him a little. They boy, no matter what he had faced before, always remained strong. He didn’t cry when his dad neglected him, he didn’t cry when he missed his mother, he didn’t cry when he was stressed out and wanted to give up on everything. Adrien was a strong kid, but he looked so broken. Plagg had no idea what to do for him. When it came down to it all Plagg really knew was about the powers of Chat Noir and Cheese. Neither of these things could help his boy. 

Eventually Plagg stopped petting Adrien and settled down next to him. He realized the only thing he could do was be there for him as he cried. He didn’t say anything, did not make any snide comments or apologize for being part of the reason that pushed Adrien towards doing what he did. He cared about the kid, but maybe he hadn’t cared enough to realize that what he had told him was a bad idea.

Adrien was an amazing kid. He hadn’t lied about that. But Adrien didn’t see it. Adrien knew that he was famous and he knew that people adored him, but he didn’t understand why, and Plagg didn’t know what to do to get him to see that. He needed him to see that he was so much more than his fake confidence and his model’s smile. Maybe Plagg had been desperate enough to hope that Ladybug could do that. Adrien practically praised her like she was his own personal god. He listened when she spoke. At least in the time being, even if he came back to his negative thoughts later. If she had loved him back, she could have shown him how amazing he was, and maybe over time he would have started seeing it in himself. He had no one to do that now. No one that really knew him and made him happy. Ladybug had been all he had in the sense of someone who loved him, and she didn’t even show it that well.

There had to be something else he could do for the kid. He had lost everything and he needed something. He needed anyone who could be there for him in times like now when he was crying. He needed someone who was better at comforting him in a way that Plagg was not. He needed support and love and he needed to not be so alone. Yet, how was he going to find that person?

Plagg thought back. Ran through all the people that Adrien knew. Was there someone there? He wasn’t sure, he never paid that much attention. He decided then and there that he was going to start searching. He didn’t care if it was a friend or someone to love him romantically. Adrien had to find someone that loved him unconditionally and put him first.

Adrien at that point was exhausted from crying. His mind had been working so hard at tearing him down and his heart was stabbing in his chest like broken glass. He was so tired. So so tired of himself and the life he was living. He just wanted to sleep and his brain seemed to agree with this idea. It would be easier to deal with all the pain when he was asleep. Nothing bad could happen when he was asleep.

His tears started to slow down and his sobs softened as the edges of his mind began to fade. He drifted off to sleep fully dressed and on top of the blankets, the tracks of his tears slowly drying.

The next thing he knew Adrien was at school again. The colors seemed bright and the shapes of the world around him were slightly off. When he walked it was almost more like he floated and his skin was warm even though it wasn’t very sunny.

He walked into the school building and traveled up the stairs to his classroom. As he walked he noticed the school was eerily empty. There were no teachers and no other students. Something was wrong.

He reached his classroom and opened the door slowly. Every seat was empty just as he expected and he wondered if there was some kind of noticed he had missed about the school being shut down that day. He pushed the door open wider to step in but what he saw made him freeze. 

Sitting on the teacher’s desk was ladybug. She had his back to him and acted like she didn’t even know he was there. Her yo-yo ran up and down on her string and she watched it with her bright blue eyes.  
A pain blossomed in his chest as he watched her. He couldn’t exactly remember why but he clutched at it anyways, trying to stop the pain. His backpack fell from his shoulder and hit the ground, hanging from the crook of his elbow.

Ladybug slowly turned, her eyes coming to his face and when their eyes met they lit up with recognition. She scooted of the desk and started to walk towards him, the yo-yo still running up and down on its string.

“Adrien.” She said almost with no emotion, “You are finally here.”

He felt his mouth go dry and his tongue moved around in his mouth as if trying to find any kind of moisture, “Were you expecting me?” He finally said in a hoarse voice. Why was his voice so horse as if he had been screaming?

“No, not really.” She caught the yo-yo in her hand and the room suddenly seemed very empty and still.

“Then what are you doing here?” His heart throbbed in another wave of pain and he tried to remember why he was feeling this way.

“I’m waiting for someone else.” She started to step closer to him. Each step slow and purposeful.  
His eyes couldn’t look away from her and each step she got closer to him the pain rose high and higher in his body. Why was it hurting so bad? Was something wrong with his heart? Was this what a heart attack felt like?

“Who are you waiting for?” as soon as the words came he realized he knew who it was, but the name was on the tip of his tongue. Something had happened, but for the life of him he couldn’t remembered. He could almost see it but the image was foggy and distorted. He instantly knew that whatever happened was why his heart hurt.

While he had been thinking she had made her way across the entire room and was standing in front of him. She seemed to be glowing, as if she had a heavenly aura. Her hand reached up to him and her palm came to rest on his cheek. 

“I’m looking for Chat” she said softly and in the same moment the scene around them fell.

Now they were standing in a very familiar spot. It was night and they were on their roof. The stars were shining brightly above them and a cool breeze ruffled both of their hair. Ladybug dragged her thumb across his cheek and he realized two things. One that he was crying, and two that he had become Chat Noir.

“There you are.” She said and her head tilted to the side, “Do you remember now?”

He nodded through his tears because he did. He remembered all too well what had happened on the roof. He remember why his heart was completely broken.

“Then tell me why.” Her eyes searched his face as if she could find the answers there and her thumb continued to rub away his tears.

“Why what?” his words came out in a blubbering sob between his lips. What could she possibly want from him now? What did she want to know because he would tell her anything. Anything she wanted to hear if it made the pain stop.

“Why do you love me?” her voice was soft and gentle but the question felt like anything but. It grated on his ears and poked into his brain like a hot brand.

“Why do you want to know? Would it change anything?” his words were desperate as he began to hope that maybe things could change. Maybe if she could see him and understand why he loved her that she could love him back. But as she slowly shook her head his heart fell again and shattered into even more pieces then before.

“No. It’s not possible. There is someone I love that is so much better then you in every way. I just wanted to know why someone like you could think they could have someone like me.”

He jerked back away from her, the gentle feeling of her thumb become the racking of her nail across his cheek. He reached up to where the pain was coming from and pulled back his hand to see blood wetting his black glove.

“Why?” he choked out. Not understand why his gentle understanding ladybug had harmed him like that.

However she didn’t answer. She just began to advance on him, causing him to step backwards so she didn’t get right up in his face, “Tell me Chat, tell me what you thought you were going to get. Tell me why you pulled up all the courage you could muster to tell me that you loved me. Tell me why you thought this was a good enough reason to ruin everything.”

She finally backed him up as far as he could go without stepping over the edge and looked down at her with panicked eyes. Would she push him over the edge? Was she mad at him to this point? Did she really hate him for ruining everything between them?

Looking up into his face he couldn’t decide if it was a glare she directed at him or a look of needing to know. He swallowed dryly and opened his mouth, “I don’t know. I just wanted it so bad. I wanted to be loved by you more than anything else I’ve ever wanted in the world. I needed you like I needed to breath. And now that my air is gone I don’t know what to do.”

She snorted and pulled away from him, “So you expected me to carry you? You expected me to wave my hand and fix all your problems? What do you take me for? Some kind of wizard?”

He felt relieved to take a step away from the edge. She turned her back to walk away from him as if she had heard enough from him, but he opened his mouth anyways, “No, I didn’t think that. I guess I didn’t think that far ahead. I knew you were too good to be true. I was just blinded by hope. Can you ever forgive me? Can we ever go back to the way we used to be? Did I really ruin everything?”

Ladybug listened to him with her back turned to him, not turning around till the last word left his lips. She looked over her shoulder, not even caring to give him her fill attention, “I don’t know Chat.” Her words were sickly sweet but had an edge to them, “Can you? Are you strong enough?”

“Strong enough? What does that mean?” He took a step towards her but she shook her head. He froze in his place, now unsure what would happen if he tried to reach her.

“You hang me up with the moon and the stars. You worshiped me, not even seeing that I’m just a human too. Can you shatter that perception of me? Can you let me go? Can you ever look at me without wanting to hold me and kiss me? Are you strong enough to just be friends?”

Adrien didn’t know what to say because in truth he didn’t know. He was too busy nursing his broken heart to seriously think about what came next. He didn’t want to think about if it was even possible to get over her and if it was how he would even do it. He didn’t know what to do anymore. He was too hurt and alone to even think of a solution.

“See, you don’t.” she stopped looking over her shoulder and stepped up to the edge of the roof, “Goodbye Chat. I hope you are happy with what you have done.”

She didn’t look back as she jumped off the roof. He watched as she swung off into the night, and he got the feeling he would never ever see her again.

The tears came back and he hadn’t realized that they had momentarily stopped. He reached up and wiped them away, when he pulled his hand back he saw the mix of the tears and blood on his fingers. Then it hit him that he wasn’t wearing his gloves, he was Adrien again.

Because without ladybug that’s all he was, Adrien, no one important at all.

He sunk down to his knees, his legs no longer able to support him. The crushing pain in his chest was stronger than it ever hand been before. He lowered himself down onto the cold roof and curled up into a ball, his hands coming up to fist into his shirt right above his heart. He closed his eyes tight and wished that everything would go away. That he could go back in time and stop himself from ever saying those three words to her. He would give anything to change what happened.

When he opened his eyes he way laying in the same exact position except he was in bed. It hit him after a second that it had been a dream. Slowly he lifted his hand to touch his cheek and found no cut, but his face was still wet from crying. Looking over to his side table he looked at the time on his alarm clock. It was one in the morning. He had a few hours to sleep and then he had a photo shoot to go to before school started. Just the thought of getting up and doing anything felt like too much. He just wanted to lay in bed and wallow in pain. It hurt to think it hurt to breath, he couldn’t even imagine what kind of pain it would be when he had to get up and walk and talk.

The world was too much for him today and he just couldn’t live in it.


	5. The Waiting Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette doesn't know what to do with herself and is tearing herself apart between guilt and fear. What can she do for Chat to mend their relationship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whats up here is the next chapter. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be cranking out chapters like this, but I'm hoping I'm going to get pretty far before work, school, or a lack of motivation stops me. However, knowing I have a few readers is definitely pushing me on so thank you to all of you who checked out this story <3

Alya sat at her desk the next day. She sighed and checked her phone, Marinette was late. She had so many things she wanted to say to Marinette and at this rate she wasn’t going to have the time. She wanted her to hurry but she figured today was the day that she was sleeping in. She would bust through the door right before the bell like she did every time like some kind of magic clock. She would have to talk to her at lunch but Alya didn’t know if she could wait that long. It wasn’t like she really had a choice though.

Her eyes trailed around the classroom in boredom, landing on her classmates and seeing what they were doing. Among them Nathan was drawing, Chloe was bitching at Sabrina who was taking the harsh words in a state of nervousness, and Alix and Kim were having some kind of fight about something. Her eyes flickered down to where Adrien was supposed to be but his seat was empty like Marinette’s. She assumed that he was at a shoot so it didn’t bother her that much, but she still couldn’t get what had happened the day before out of her head. The more she had thought about it the more she had second guessed it. She was a reporter for heaven’s sake, how had she encouraged him with so little facts? And not to mention how had she convince Marinette that he liked her when the proof wasn’t as solid as she had first thought? Alya felt like the situation was resting heavily on her shoulders and she just wanted to see it run its course as smoothly as possible. Best case scenario she was right, but the rock in her gut and the voice in her head kept making her worry.

Alya had almost given up on the thought that marionette was coming all that day when, right before the bell rang, Marinette busted through the door with her usual gusto like she had predicted. However, the first thing Alya noticed was that she had huge bags under her eyes and she looked completely dead on her feet. As she stumbled in the teacher turned to scold her, but when she saw her face her words faded out. Barely acknowledging the teacher, Marinette ducked her head and walked over to her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible so she didn’t catch any attention. She didn’t do a very good job at it because everyone was looking at her, unused to seeing her so gloomy looking.

Alya watcher her concerned as she made her way over to her. Once she had her bag off and was situated in her seat she leaned over, “Girl, you look horrible. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“No.” Marinette mumbled and laid her head on her desk, her eyes closing like she was planning on going back to sleep right then and there.

“What happened? Were you up late designing?” Alya said it but she was sure that wasn’t it. Marinette didn’t look right. She could tell something was eating at her but she didn’t want to force it out of her, not in the middle of class at least. Was it something about Adrien? Did something already happen since the last time they had seen each other? That seemed unlikely. Plus, Alya was pretty positive if Adrien had broken her heart she would have called Alya the very next second. But if it wasn’t about Adrien she had no idea what could affect her like this.

“Sure.” Marinette didn’t open her eyes or even try to make it sound convincing. Alya frown and reached a hand out to touch Marinette’s back.

“Are you okay?” she rubbed a soothing circle on her back as her worry skyrocketed. Where was happy, bouncy Marinette? This girl in front of her, even tired, was not the usual girl she was.

Marinette was quiet and for a second Alya thought she had really fallen asleep. She was going to leave her alone but then her lips cracked open and she muttered, “No.”

Alya’s hand stilled don her back. This was serious. Marinette was too tired to even try and pretend she was okay. Should they leave the classroom and go talk? Was Marinette even in the condition to talk to her? It didn’t look like it. She figured now wasn’t the time to try and force information out of her, “Okay. We are going to talk about this later. For now you need to go to the nurses and lie down.” 

Without waiting for a response Alya went to the teacher and told her that Marinette didn’t feel well and needed to go lie down for a bit. The teacher gave Marinette one look and agreed. Coming back Alya tried to convince Marinette to get up but the girl refused to budge. In the end Alya practically carried her and dragged her down a few halls to where the nurse’s office was.

Once inside the nurse turned with a look of shock, “What happened girls?”

Alya slid Marinette into a chair where she leaned her head back on the wall and closed her eyes. Alya turned to the nurse and motioned to her friend with her hand, “Oh nothing happened. Marinette just isn’t feeling good and needs to lie down for a while.”

The nurse walked over to Marinette and touched her shoulder. The girl’s eyes opened slowly and blurrily tried to focus on the nurse. She was so so tired.

“How are you not feeling good?” The woman asked, her eyes roaming over her to look for anything visibly wrong.

Marinette almost wanted to tell her it was her heart. However, that surely would have gotten her kicked out of the office. Instead she pointed to her head, “I have a really bad head ache.” It wasn’t completely a lie. Her head was throbbing from the lack of sleep and because she had been stressing out all night.

“I see. Did you take something for it?” she nodded her head in response to the woman, “Okay, then I’m going to have you just lay down till you feel better. Go ahead and get in the bed.”

It took all of Marinette’s effort to stand up and trudge over to the bed. Alya watched her with worried eyes and she felt bad for worrying her best friend when there was really nothing she could do for her. She made it to the bed that sat behind a curtain and practically fell into the mattress. She kicked her shoes off and pulled her legs onto the bed.

“I’ll come check on you in a little but, okay honey?” the nurse said with a hand on the curtain and Marinette used the last of her energy to nod again. The nurse closed the curtain after that and she was left in the dull darkness.

Marinette felt like crap and that was an understatement. She had been up all night thinking about Chat. The look on his face and the way his voice had cracked when he said he was sorry played over and over again in her mind. Anytime she was about to fall asleep she would think about him again and find herself completely awake. Nothing could distract her from it either. She tried to play videogames but she couldn’t get into it. She tried to design but no ideas came to her. She tried to read but she found herself reading the same sentence over and over again without comprehending what it said.

So instead she resigned to her fate. She crawled in bed and started to cry again. Tikki tried to comfort her but nothing had helped. She had felt like a horrible person for what had happened. She had wanted to give Chat anything he needed. She had wanted him to be happy because he deserved to be happy. He was a fun, kind, and brave soul. He was annoying at times but all his good qualities shined through. She was proud to have him as a partner and friend and would do almost anything for him. So why could she not give him the one thing he had asked for?

Her eyes had floated over to the posters of Adrien oh her wall and that had caused her to cry even harder. She loved Adrien so much. He was everything she had ever wanted and she could not regret loving him. She just wished thing hadn’t been the way they were. The rest of the night she had cried and cried till she was exhausted. Then she had laid there and stared at the ceiling thinking even more about what she had done to cause the whole situation.

Now laying in the nurse’s office’s bed the same thoughts were bombarding her. She thought about how she had broken his heart and she didn’t know if things would ever be the same between them. Would they be able to mend the rift that was created between them? Or would they fall apart? She thought that they had a strong bond, but maybe it was much more fragile than she ever thought. She was scared to find out what the truth was. She didn’t know if she would be able to face him to find out the truth anyways. And even if she was, at this point she didn’t know if he would even show up for patrol.

Maybe he was mad at her and never wanted to see her face again. Did he blame her? Did he think she was cruel? Did he curse her name and wonder why she didn’t love him? Or was he so heartbroken he couldn’t stand to look at her without feeling his heart break all over again? Would he ever be able to get past his feelings and forgive her? All the questions she had had no answers and that caused both her head and her heart to throb in pain.

She needed to see him, no matter how scared she was. He had left before they could talk it through and while she didn’t blame him, she didn’t think it was a good thing. Both of them were upset and hurt. The longer they stayed apart the more the wound between them would fester. No matter what he said to her or how he acted towards her she wanted to see him and at least make sure he was okay.

Yet she couldn’t force him to see her. She had hurt him and if he didn’t want to see her she would have to respect that. It would hurt her but if he wanted space away from her she understood. She knew what it was like to love someone who you didn’t think could ever love you back. She had that in Adrien even thought for some reason there was hope that he did like her back. Yet, at this point she couldn’t think about that. All the joy from yesterday had been sucked from her brain. The only thing she could think about was Chat so Adrien took the back seat which made sense. It would only be selfish of her to care more about her happiness then about Chats. And right now she was the person who would never love him back that was causing him pain. She owed it to him to suffer too.

But what was he doing now? Was he at school pretending everything was normal? Or was he in a bed like her trying to breathe through his broken heart? Maybe he was doing something completely different. She wouldn’t put it past Chat to somehow get alcohol and get drunk to forget. Or skip school to go somewhere as Chat to get away from it all. She wanted to know so bad but she probably never would know. It’s not like she could go look for him, she had no idea of where he could actually be, plus she didn’t know who he was under the mask. And it wasn’t like she could go up to him later and ask ‘by the way what did you do after I broke you heart by telling you I didn’t love you?’. That would not go well at all.

She was just going to have to deal with the consiquences. It wasn’t really her fault that she didn’t love Chat, but it really did feel like it. She felt so extremely guilty and a little voice kept reminding her that it was ridiculous to think she ever could have done anything about the way she felt about him. Yet she imagined that somewhere in an alternate universe she had never met Adrien and instead had fallen in love with chat. It pained her to think of a world where she didn’t know Adrien, but it was a much happier version for her and Chat. A world where she would never hurt him. 

With that thought in her head she found that she her mind was heavy with sleep. She held onto the image of a happy, smiling Chat and fell into a deep slumber.

When Marinette woke up it was late. School was going to be over in an hour and she figured she should have just gone home in the first place. She could have told her parents that she was sick just like she had told the nurse, but that would have worried them and she didn’t want to do that. Either way it was too late for that now so she guessed it didn’t really matter. She pulled herself out of the bed, talked to the nurse again to tell her she was better now, and went to her next class.

Physically she was a lot better, but mentally she was about the same. She hopped after getting sleep things wouldn’t seem so bad, but nothing had changed. It was silly to think that sleep could change what happened. The facts were facts and she couldn’t wish them away.

When she finally shuffled her way to the classroom she paused outside the door. She didn’t really want to go in and suffer through the last bit of school, but there wasn’t really an alternative. She had already avoided worrying her parents so it wasn’t worth it to go home an hour early and cause the same effect. She sighed and opened the door. 

When she walked in she realized all eyes were on her. They had all seen the way she had been that morning and most looked concerned while Chloe and Sabrina didn’t care. She moved quickly to her seat and sat down hoping once she was seated no one would care anymore. Now she wished she had just spent another hour in the nurse’s office. That was probably better than this even if she would have felt a little guilty about purposefully skipping. 

“Are you feeling better?” Alya mouthed as she touched her arm to get her attention. Marinette jumped a little at the contact, having been so into her world and preoccupied by everyone else staring at her that she hadn’t even noticed her best friend watching her.

“I’m okay.” She said under her breath and that was the best she could do to sooth her friends worries at that point. She didn’t want to lie but she didn’t want to cause a fuss either. 

Alya seemed to catch onto that. She began to search her face for a while, looking for any kind of clue to tell her what was really going on with Marinette. She didn’t find anything too revealing and knew that they were going to have to talk if she wanted to figure it out, “After school, do you have some time?”

Marinette in truth really didn’t want to talk about it. She wanted to go home again and either sleep or cry some more. Yet, this was her best friend. She didn’t want to leave her hanging like that and if anyone could help her through her problems it would he here. She just didn’t know how to tell her. Could she tell her? No, no she couldn’t. There were no half-truths she could tell Alya that would make any sense or wouldn’t lead her right to the truth. But Alya was smart and stubborn and she wouldn’t just let what happened today go.

“No today. I just want to go home.” She said back, hoping that Alya would take that as an excuse. Maybe it would give her time to think of what else she would tell her to throw her way from the trail.

Even with that answer Alya looked her face up and down one more time. She seemed to be weighting if she was going to except that by the look on her face. She must have seen something because she nodded in agreement, “Okay, thanks fine. But don’t think you are getting away with it forever. You have to tell me eventually.”

Marinette’s smile was pained. That was about the response she had expected and it stressed her out more then she had expected. She knew her best friend was just trying to be there for her but she had enough on her plate without having Alya bug her about it every day. Either way both girls dropped the subject for then and that gave Marinette hope that the whole thing wouldn’t be another disaster.

Class went on after that and Marinette was mostly out of it. She didn’t know what was going on so there was really no point to listening. However, eventually she noticed that the seat in front of her was empty. In her distress she had barely noticed that Adrien wasn’t there. Did he have a photo shoot that day during school? She knew he had had had one in the morning before school but that wouldn’t have made him absent from class. 

She watched his seat for a few more minutes as if the longer she watched the more likely he was to appear. Then after that didn’t work she stared at Nino, trying to read his brain and see if he knew anything. Of course it was impossible and since she couldn’t talk to him in the middle of class from that distance she turned to her last resort. Leaning over into Alya she whispered, “Where is Adrien? Did he come today?”

Alya shook her head, shooting a concerned look at Adrien’s seat, “No, he never came. “

As if hearing their conversation by a miracle of god Nino turned around in his seat, “He texted me that he wasn’t feeling good. I guess he threw up last night.”

Alya leaned forward to get closer to him so she could talk without getting in trouble, “Are you going to go see him after school?”

He shook his head with a frown, obviously upset about the situation, “No, he didn’t want to see me. And with his dad being a real stickler for his no company in the house unless necessary rule it was going to be hard anyways.”

Alya frowned at the mention of his dad. None of them knew that much about him even thought he was a famous designer. The all got the idea that he wasn’t always around or the best dad from Adrien’s birthday incident the year before, but they didn’t know for sure. Marinette figured that since he was a famous man he liked his privacy in his own home, so she hoped that was the only reason.

“Can we call him? Just too really make sure he’s okay?” the idea came out of Marinette’s lips before her brain had even processed it. Tired Marinette was more lose lipped then awake Marinette. 

Nino shook his head again, “I tried at lunch but he won’t pick up. He texted me telling me that his throat hurt to talk.”

“Oh,” Marinette deflated in her seat. She really hoped Adrien got better soon. She didn’t like when her friends didn’t feel good and she liked it even less when she couldn’t help them feel better in some way. She always brought Alya’s favorite soup when she didn’t feel good even if Alya never let her stick around in the fear she would get sick too. And when her classmates were sick she usually shot them a text or brought them their homework after school to check up on them depending on how close they were. She had never actually done any of those things for Adrien because of how nervous she had been in front of him, but she had figured maybe this was the time since they were actually friends. Seemed that wasn’t the case.

Though in the end she wasn’t really in the condition to take care of him anyways.

The rest of the class flew by once their conversation ended and school was finally over. The three of them parted ways with a wave goodbye and Marinette tried to ignore the look Alya gave her as she walked away. She once again wished Alya would have dropped it by the next day but that really was impossible.

She took the quick walk home and walked into the front door of the bakery, the delicious smells of all the pastries hitting her at one. She avoided the temptation and moved to kiss her mom and the cheek and wave to her dad who was baking in the kitchen. 

“How was your day?” her mom asked as she moved to tidy up around the cash register.

“It was fine, nothing that exciting happened but I have a lot of homework. Is it okay if I go up and work on it?” Marinette’s hand was already on the door to head into the back and up into the house but she paused just to make sure she wasn’t needed.

“Of course, me and your dad have it under control. Go do your schoolwork.” Her mom gave her an understanding smile before she turned to the customer that was coming up to the register.

“Thank mom.” She said but her mom was already talking to the customer and didn’t hear her. She turned away and headed up into the house and into her room without worrying too much about it.

Once there she pulled out all the work she had missed that day. Looking at it she really didn’t feel like doing it at all. She was already stressed out and she knew at that point that she wasn’t going to get it done even if she tried. She didn’t think she was going to be able to focus on anything until she saw Chat and talked to him. She had to wait hours for that though and that was even if he decided to show up. What was she going to do? Maybe it would have been better to have kept herself busy in the bakery. However, she didn’t want her parents to catch on to how she was feeling so it was probably better for her to suffer if her room then in front of them. That would have just add a whole new set of stresses for both parties.

Tikki, who had left Marinette’s bag as soon as she had made it into her bedroom, was eating a cookie and watching her struggle. Tikki didn’t know what to say or do for Marinette, which was new territory for her. She usually had tons of things to say to support the girl, yet what could she even do in this situation? After trying to comfort the girl that night Tikki had come face to face with that fact that there wasn’t anything she could do no matter how hard she tried to think. This was all up to Marinette and Chat, they had to come back together and talk it out. Tikki knew that Marinette knew that so she didn’t say it out loud. Instead she resigned herself to watching over the girl and making sure she was there for emotional support when she was needed.

She watched as Marinette stared at her classwork then stared at the wall. She knew a million things must have been running through the girls mind. Tikki never had to deal with this kind of love, but she knew that it was a very complicated human emotion. She loved Marinette so she could understand to some degree the pain that could come from losing love or what it felt like to love someone overwhelmingly. But loving another human the way she loved Marinette wasn’t as dramatic. Romantic love was a hard because the feelings had to match up. If one loved the other more then someone was getting hurt. If someone didn’t love the other one at all then someone was getting hurt. Or if someone fell out of love then someone was getting hurt. She didn’t even want to think about what it was like when someone loved two people and it didn’t work out. It was just amazing to Tikki how fluid and difficult emotions like romantic love could be.

After what felt like forever but actually wasn’t that long, Marinette gave up on trying or thinking. She got up from her desk and climbed up to lay on her bed, feeling like that was the best thing she could do. Tikki followed her up and rested on her pillow by her head. She wanted to keep close to her, just so Marinette knew that every second Tikki was there for her. 

Settling into her bed Marinette sighed and stared at her ceiling. She looked at it intently and Tikki wondered if she was actually seeing the ceiling or if there was something she was thinking about so hard the world around her disappeared. Tikki figured she was thinking about Chat more. She wished Marinette would take a break from all of it, even if just for a second, but that was easier said than done.

There was another sigh and a groan from Marinette as she rolled onto her side to look at Tikki even though there were close enough that it was hard to focus on the little bug’s face, “Do you think he will come tonight?” She said it softly, her big blue eyes shiny and hopeful even though Tikki could see the fear in them too.

Tikki reached out and touched her forehead in an attempt to be soothing even though her words were not, “I don’t know Marinette. I think if he did come it would be very courageous of him. But would you want to see someone right after they broke your heart?”

Marinette closed her eyes and let the words wash over her. If she confessed to Adrien and he turned her down she wouldn’t want to see him right away. Maybe wouldn’t want to see him for a long time. It scared her to think that Chat wouldn’t want to see her for a long time, but the truth of it was sitting right in front of her face that it was extremely possible, “No, no I wouldn’t. It would be really hard.”

“Right,” Tikki’s voice trailed off, not knowing what she could even say before some advice for Marinette finally came to her. She scooted closer to the girls head as if to make sure she could hear her okay, “I know you want to give him his space but you also want to make sure he’s okay. That’s a hard balance to maintain. I think that your best choice is to make yourself available for him to come talk to but don’t force him to show up. Let him heal on his own time but never let him think that he has to stay away from you.” Tikki felt grateful she finally had some advice to say, even if it wasn’t that insightful of advice. She liked it much better when she could actually help, but she realized had just used the same advice she gave Marinette for her own situation. She had waited till Marinette needed her, and when she had needed her the right advice ha presented herself. It was proof enough that it worked. She just hoped it was as easy for the two of them as it was for her.

Laying there Marinette thought about it for a second then nodded her head against the pillow, “Yeah that makes sense. I don’t want to push him away or seem like I’m unavailable. You always know what to say Tikki, thank you.” She brought the Kwami closer and kissed her on the head. 

Tikki embraced the girls face quickly before she pulled away, “I just want to help.”

“Well, you do a great job at it” She said and in truth she felt a little better. She had been wondering what she could do to fix this and agonizing over it since it happened. It was kind of calming to have someone else tell her that in the moment she couldn’t do anything. That she just needed to wait for him to come to her but make sure he knew that she was waiting and there for him. Of course it didn’t make anything better, everything was still messed up. Healing took time and she couldn’t let herself forget that.

With a new determination Marinette got out of bed leaving Tikki to watch after her. She decided she wasn’t going to mope around and was going to get things done. She sat down at her desk and started on her classwork. Life couldn’t stop because something bad had happened. She had to keep moving, keep being positive. If she got lost in her pain and worried she wouldn’t be in any position to help Chat when he did come back to her. She was going to fix things with Chat, that was a promise, so she had to be strong.

She zoomed through her classwork and homework and even called Alya for help on some of the things she had missed. Alya had been kind enough not to bring up the reason behind it and seemed happy to hear Marinette’s voice back to normal. However, by the time it was time for her to go on patrol she was a nervous wreck. Her pain was overpowered by fear and all her resolve had slowly faded away. She was terrified that he wasn’t going to show up, and that he never would again. It was possible that she was never going to get the chance to make things right again and that was the worst thing she could think of.

“Are you ready Tikki?” she asked, setting the pencil down. The little bug flew over to her and landed on the desk.

“Of course, I’m ready when you are.” Tikki reached out to touch her hand that was resting on the desk and discovered it was shaking a little, “I can’t promise it’s going to be okay, but I’m here for you no matter what.”

Marinette bit her lip and tried to calm down. She gripped her hands into fist hoping it would stop the shaking. It didn’t, but it had been worth a shot. She took a deep breath and let it out as slow as she possibly could.

“Okay.” She stood up and squared her shoulders, “I’m ready. Tikki, spots on.”

Transforming didn’t feel as nice as it usually did and when she was in her ladybug costume she couldn’t stop looking at her full length mirror. She was almost mesmerized by her alter ego that was framed in the glass. She analyzed herself and as she looked her fear flared up stronger than ever, but she discovered that there was also some kind of anger bubbling up inside of her. The two emotions were smashing against each other and making her feel kind of sick. After a moment of focusing on her emotions she found her feet moving and she made her way to stand in front of the mirror. She placed her shaking hand against the surface and stared into her own face. Her blue eyes looked back at her from her mask.

“It was you.” She muttered, her face turning into a glare, “Well it was both of us, but you lead him on. You tricked him into thinking you were someone to fall in love with and you make him think that you liked him.” She felt like she was a child playing a blame game, but in a sense it was true. If it wasn’t for the mask of ladybug she never would have acted so brave, or daring, or even responded to his flirting. If it wasn’t for ladybug she never would have opened up to him and made him think that she liked him. As Marinette Chat would never have fallen for her. Things would have never traveled down this path so in a way it really was all ladybugs fault.

That’s why she hoped, as ladybug, she would be able to fix it too.

Turning away from the mirror was almost a relief. She didn’t want to look at ladybug in that light, because even after everything ladybug was still an escape she relied on. It was some of the only times she felt that she was a great person meant to do great things. And with the whole Chat situation the line was being blurred between what was good and bad about each personality. 

As she came down this train of thought everything started to feel overwhelming. All her emotions and different thoughts were banging together. She felt like she was contradicting herself at every turn. Was ladybug good because she saved people, or bad because she hurt Chat? Was Marinette good because she wasn’t brave enough to create situations like this or bad because she wasn’t brave? The lines of her two personalities were starting to cross and she didn’t know what to do. However, She wanted to laugh because it made sense, they were both her so there were bound to be good in bad in both sides of her. But she had kept them separate so long in her head that it was shocking to see the evidence now that she really had to think about it. It made her brain want to shut down and never think about it again. Between this and the pain and fear of Chat and trying to figure everything out she was feeling tired again.

Life was a rollercoaster, and she was sure she was at the part that had all the loops. Where was the determination she had felt a few hours ago? Was she really that weak when it came to the actual moment she needed to be brave? She was going to be strong for Chat, wasn’t she? She had made her bed and she was going to lie in it. She had to fix things with Chat, she wasn’t going to give herself any other choice. Sure she was afraid to get hurt, but to ease the hurt she inflicted on him, she figured that she deserved to hurt a little too.

Marinette clenched her first at her side, once again trying to use the motion to calm herself down. She slowly and deliberately made her way up onto her roof balcony and stood there under the stars and in the cool air.

“For Chat.” She muttered and took off into the night. She swung from building to building, not looking back no matter how much she wanted to. Part of her begged her to go home where she didn’t have to face Chat, and the other told her if she didn’t go nothing would change. The two sides of her battled but ladybug won, and she found herself on their roof not too much later.

It was empty just like she had expected. Even though she understood he needed time, it hurt a little. After gazing at the empty space in front of her longer then she should have, just trying to process that he wasn’t there, she moved to sit in her favorite spot. Her legs swung and for a few minutes it felt like she was waiting for him to show up just like any night. However, the illusion shatter quickly.

Pulling her yo-yo off her hip she open her communicator. She needed to send a message to chat sooner than later. She knew he would only get it if he was transformed, but it was the only way she had to get ahold of him. She pulled up a keyboard to type and her fingers hovered over the buttons. She had to decide very carefully what she needed to say. Any wrong step could make things so much worse.

Her teeth worried at her lips as she continued to think much longer then she should have. She was just so scared. Ladybug had messed things up once because she didn’t really think about Chat’s feelings, so it was likely that she could do it again. Marinette usually prided herself because she was nice and tried to help all her friends, so that’s why she felt like she could say something bad without even meaning to.

But in all honestly could it be that hard?

She bit down harder on her lip and made up her mind right then and there that she was going to write out whatever felt right and send it. Her fingers started to move in a fury and when she was done she stared at it, just to make sure everything looked okay.

Chat, I’m sorry for what happened yesterday. I want to see you so we can talk about it, but I understand if you don’t want to see me. Just know that I’ll be waiting for you every night at our meeting spot until you are ready. You are important to me and I don’t want to lose you.

After reading it over at least ten times she figured that that was as good as she could do it the situation she was given. She quickly pushed the send button before she could change her mind and watched as it was sent off to Chats baton. Instantly nerves and relief flooded through her. Relief because she had done it, she had made an effort to get in contact with chat. It was the first step to mending the broken rift between them. However, she was nervous because what if he didn’t ever come or didn’t ever reply? He could be reading it right now and ignore her, or he would refuse to transform into Chat and never get it. There were so many variables she wasn’t in control of and it was off-putting.

Shutting the yo-yo she let the finality of the snap wash over her. She had to remember everything was up to Chat, and she had to follow what he needed. She couldn’t be selfish in this situation. She was focusing on how to heal his wounds, not her own. So after hooking the yo-yo back on her hip she waited. She looked up at the stars and tried to remain calm. She waited and waited and waited. She kept tricking herself, thinking that she saw him looking at her from the shadows of buildings, but he was never really there. Every time she realized it was an allusion of her hopeful mind a new sadness hit her all over again. Every time she had to say it again, “This was for him, not for her.”

After what felt like a long time she knew it was time for her to go home. It was getting late and she needed to go to bed so she wasn’t dead again the next day at school. She stood up and balanced on the edge of the roof. She had been strong and she was proud of herself, but as she stood there she let a few tears fall.

“Things will get better.” She said to the sky, “I won’t give up till they are.” She wiped at the tears and commanded them to stop. Once she had removed all signs of her pain, she took off into the night to return home.


	6. A Tangle of Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien starts to really try and face whats gong on inside of him. However the farther he digs the worse it gets to the point Adrien feels like he has to get out to just breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I just wanted to say real quick that as this story keeps going I hope everything makes sense. I have a idea of what is happening in the story and where its going but the smaller details come to me as I write. I'm trying really hard not to contradict or repeat myself but it might happen and I hope its something that doesn't get in the way of enjoying the story. Thanks everyone for reading and I hope this chapter is to your liking!

Adrien laid in bed, not tired, but he didn’t have any energy either. After his photo shoot that morning, which had gone horribly, his dad told him to stay home. He had apparently looked so bad no clothes or makeup could make him look decent. Plus his heart just wasn’t into it and that had frustrated the photographer to no end. He was thankful that he didn’t have to go to school that day, even though he usually loved it. It would have been painful to try and function normally. However, at home, there wasn’t much to do but sulk.

 

His painful thought from the night before continued to plague him and he didn’t know what to do. He continued to blame himself for being stupid, and he also continued to think of ladybug and wished for anything that she liked him back. However thoughts of ladybug brought back the memory of his dream, how she had laughed and him and hurt him. The real ladybug never would have done anything like that, but he couldn’t seem to forget it. He knew she wouldn’t mock him for his feelings, she was too kind for that, but he couldn’t help but believe that she must have thought something similar.

 

“You need to get up.” Plagg said, pushing at his back as if he could somehow move him. Instead it was like someone was poking him in the back over and over again, “You have been laying in that bed doing nothing for way too long.”

 

“No thank you.” His voice was hoarse from the sobs that had been coming and going all say and while it didn’t hurt it didn’t sound good.

 

“So you’re just going to sit here and sulk? Why don’t you play a game?” Plagg’s voice was a little desperate and it was weird for Adrien to hear. Plagg usually didn’t care about what he was feeling, or at least pretended to not. Did he really look that bad that even the cranky cat was visibly concerned?

 

“Games are too much work.” He mutter. He thought about getting up, turning on his game console, picking out a game, and actually playing it. He didn’t have the mind for that today even if the distraction would have been welcoming.

 

“What about those cartoons you love? Watch one of those. All you have to do is open your eyes it’s not that hard.” Plagg started to shove harder but Adrien’s body still didn’t move.

 

Adrien rolled over so the cat had to jump out of the way before he got squished, “Anime? I don’t know what to watch though. Nothing I have sounds good right now.” Usually anime was his go to when he needed to feel better. He loved getting lost in the animation and interesting stories and there were endless options online. It had helped him a lot for the long periods of time he had to spend alone.

 

Plagg, giving up on pushing him now that his position was even harder to move, floated over so he was hovering above Adrien’s chest, “Music? What about music? You like to listen to music when you get into moods.”

 

“Music?” Adrien hadn’t thought about that. What was more powerful then music? It had a way influencing emotions and that was exactly what he needed right then. He sat up slowly and Plagg seemed to celebrate that he had gotten him to move. He grabbed his phone, ignoring texts from Nino he had been getting since he hadn’t showed up at school, and moved over to a blue tooth speaker he had across the room.

 

Turning it on he opened his music app and started to scroll. What was the perfect song that matched his mood and situation? He scrolled through his artists till he landed on one that he realized was perfect. Turing up the volume all the way he pushed play and [the first notes of the song began to play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi3DHkHUMYs).

 

“Someday, when I’m older and they never know my name.” He turned to Plagg with a completely solemn look to match the feeling of the song and the feelings inside, “Somehow, if I’m honest I can never feel ashamed.”

 

Plagg’s look of happiness turned to a sour look as soon as he caught the drift of the lyrics. Adrien stepped towards Plagg to the beat of the song as he continued to sing in his scratchy voice, “Maybe I was wrong to hold you up so high. Now I know I’ve lost you to the feelings I kept inside.”

 

Running over to his bed he jumped up on it so he was standing in the middle as the chorus began, “I don’t know what it felt like. I wanted you here, the way that I wanted you last time.” He was giving everything he had to singing and he knew he was probably making his throat worse but he didn’t care then. It felt good to sing about it and to his surprise it was nice to move his body after being still or so long, “We’re not on the same page, you don’t even know me cause you never took the time!” the last word of the chorus was cut short as Plagg zoomed over to where Adrien had left his phone and turned the song off.

 

“That’s not helpful at all. Can’t you listen to something upbeat? Something that would make you happy?” He glared from his position on the phone, his little hands on his hips.

 

Adrien frowned, he thought his song choice was perfect. It had matched his mood and he felt that the words described the situation. He guessed Plagg didn’t understand the healing power of sad songs.

 

“I guess you are right.” He sighed and got down from the bed, trying not to slip on the blankets in his decent, “I’ll pick something more upbeat, okay?”

 

Plagg seemed to like this so he flew away from the phone so Adrien could pick it up. He already had a song idea for his next choice and he quickly found the artist.

 

[Pushing play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30G4Hm3Dwk0) he danced slightly side to side, moving his hips and shoulder to the slow beat and Plagg opened his mouth to comment on the beat not being that up beat when the words started and Adrien turned to him dramatically.

 

“All this trouble that I know. Every swing I take and stone I throw. All the bridges that I’ve burned. All the news ways that I hurt.” He moved towards Plagg again, still dancing to the beat, “You gave up and I lost track. When you love someone who don’t love back. Don’t matter who’s at fault. Nothing matter now at all.”

 

At those words Plagg groaned and tried to fly over to the phone to stop the music again but Adrien blocked him and grabbed the phone before Plagg could touch it, “I might have said too much I might have said too much.” He ran from Plagg to make sure the Kwami couldn’t do anything to interrupt his song. The cat followed, grabbing the edge of the phone and trying to yank it from his grasp, “I won’t forget your touch, I’m saying too much.”

 

Pushing the cat away he began to put his soul into the words and sang as loud as he could, “A better life is waiting! A better life is waiiiting. And what is done is done. Piece together what’s been broken. Can you ever give up someone? A better life is waiting.”

 

Suddenly Plagg zoomed away from him, ending the struggle for the phone. His absence threw Adrien off, his voice stuttered on the words then completely stopped when Plagg turned off the speaker itself.

 

“If you are just going to make yourself feel worse then just stop.” His voice was exasperated and Adrien deflated a bit. It was strange to him that Plagg didn’t understand what he was doing. Music had a way to heal a person. When listening to music it was as if knowing that someone had felt the same way as him and it was soothing. Many people in the world knew what it was like to love someone and not have to not have them love you back. It made him feel less alone in his situation. It was everyone who liked the song telling him that it wasn’t anybody’s fault. It wasn’t ladybugs fault for loving someone else and it wasn’t his for loving her.

 

Just like the song said he knew if he could make it through this situation a better life was waiting for him, but it didn’t feel like that in the moment. Everything just felt horrible and complicated and he didn’t really want to think about it too much in detail. He didn’t know what to do with himself because what was there to do besides cry and nurse his broken heart? At this point he didn’t know if he was ever going to be able to get past ladybug. Positive thinking wasn’t helping either. He kept telling himself he was going to be okay and that things were not bad but the bad thoughts and feelings always surged up. They told him he was always going to be alone, that she would never forgive him for being so selfish, and that he would feel awful forever. It was hard not to believe that it was going to be true.

 

He figured at some point he was going to have to talk to ladybug. Even if it was just for her to tell him that she never wanted to see him again, at least he would know. Would she even look him in the eyes when he told her not to speak to him every again? Or was it not like that at all and she would forgive him for screwing everything up? In that moment there were too many questions and too many things he didn’t know besides that she had turned him down. He probably should have stuck around to have talked to her after she had turned him down but it hurt too much and looking at her face had hurt so much more. He didn’t want to her to see him cry either. It wasn’t her fault that she hurt him so he didn’t want to make her feel bad about it either. There was a little part of him too that kept thinking that maybe if he had waited a little longer and she had gotten to know him better things would have been different, but he kept squishing that thought down. It wasn’t that she didn’t know him, it was that there was someone else.

 

“Hey, I’m talking to you.” Plagg was annoyed and Adrien realized he had totally gone off into his own world.

 

“What? Oh, it makes me feel better. I’m not trying to make myself sad. I’m sad enough as it is.” Adrien moved back to his bed, deciding if he could use music to vent his feelings he might as well lay down again.

 

Plagg sat down on the speaker and watched him flop back down, a confused look on his face, “That doesn’t make any sense. Wouldn’t you rather forget the bad things then dwell on them?”

 

“Hmmm, that not it exactly.” He wiggled and scooted his body so his head was on his pillow again. He didn’t even bother to look at Plagg and instead closed his eyes, “I guess it kind of validates your feelings. Plus, if you ignore the feelings, they are always going to be there. Music is a way to work through your problems, but in a way that you are not truly alone. Is like talking to a friend who has been in the same exact position before.”

 

“That sounds ridiculous. But I guess if it works do whatever you want.” There was the sound of the speaker turning back on. A few seconds later there was a weight that pressed down on the pillow next to Adrien’s head. He opened his eyes to see that Plagg had brought him his phone. He reached out his hand and grabbed it but he didn’t know what to play anymore. It wasn’t like he had a portfolio of unrequited love music. He ended up googling a list of songs and listening to an unrequited love playlist on YouTube. It wasn’t as fulfilling as being able to sing them all, but the ones he knew he ended up belting from his laying position on the bed. He figured he could get up and sing again, but he had spent the little energy he felt like using on the first two songs.

 

Once the playlist was over Adrien felt that he had enough of music. He felt like that the feeling he had from listening to music was the feeling you get from going to therapy. Not that he had ever been, but he figured you left a good therapy session feeling listened to and with a better outlook. The music had calmed his mind and was able to think about the situation a little more positively. Stretching, he got out of bed and turned off the speaker so the battery didn’t die out before the next time he needed it. A second after he had pushed the button there was a knock on the door that made him jump in surprise.  

 

“Adrien?” the voice said through the door and he froze. It was Nathalie. Why she was there and what did she want?

 

“Yes?” he called from across the room, not really wanting to let her in but he figured that he didn’t have a choice. Why was she home anyway? He thought the house was supposed to be empty. If she was here did that mean his dad had come home? And what for? Had he come to check up on him? But if he had would he have sent Nathalie? He pressed his lips together in frustration and figured that he wasn’t going to get any answers from in his room.

 

“I’m coming in” She called just as he had figured she would do and his door opened to reveal his dads assistant, “How are you feeling?” She asked as she stepped in his room, stopping a good distance from him.

 

“I’m feeling kind of better.” He was a little glad in the moment that his voice sounded horrible because it really did add to the whole being sick lie.

 

“That’s good.” She looked down at her clipboard with a thoughtful look before she met his eyes again, “I don’t want to cross any boundaries Adrien, but why are you blasting sad love music?”

 

Adrien gulped as he shot the speaker a look as if it was all its fault. No one was supposed to be home to hear him singing horribly and shedding a fear tears. He didn’t know what to tell her so he just stared at her with wide eyes, frozen.

 

“Did something happen?” she ventured after a few quiet minutes, “you can talk to me if you need to Adrien.”

 

The whole situation was weird. Natalie was a nice lady, but she usually didn’t involve herself too much in Adrien’s personal life. He knew she felt bad about his strict life and wanted to help him, but they had never talked to each other about feelings or problems before. He had to wonder why she was offering her ear to him. Was his moping that concerning? Was he over reacting? How did people usually deal with broken hearts? It was his first one so he didn’t know. He figured singing and crying in bed was pretty normal. Or maybe it wasn’t normal for teenage models.

 

“I…” his mind was racing to figure out what to say. In the end he landed on the truth, “It’s complicated.”

 

“I see.” She looked over to the window as if she didn’t know what to say in response and the mood was continuously getting more awkward, “I wanted to come and let you know that your father is home for the day and wants to know if you are well enough to attend dinner.”

 

So his dad was home, but why? He was usually at the office for a lot longer than he had been today. He wanted to believe that it was really out of worry for him, but his dad had never come home from work when he was sick before so he didn’t know why this time would be special.

 

“I… yeah sure.” Adrien scratched at the back of his head and just wanted her to leave. He didn’t know what else he was going to do but he wanted to be alone to do it and he really didn’t want to have any kind of awkward conversation with Nathalie and have her try to comfort him. It wouldn’t work and both of them would be wasting their time.

 

“Okay, I’ll tell the chef to make something light for you.” With a nod she turned to leave but paused in the doorway. Looking over her shoulder she said, “I hope you feel better.” And then left. Adrien got a sneaking suspicion she wasn’t talking about him being sick.

 

For the rest of the day before dinner Adrien actually tried to put effort into doing things. He pulled out the homework he hadn’t done the day before and finally texted Nino back. Nino insisted that he came over after school but Adrien didn’t want to see him, no matter how much he liked his best friend. He tried to call him too but Adrien told him he wasn’t going to do that either. Trying to pretend he wasn’t hurting right now was impossible, and if Nathalie and Plagg was anything to go off, his behavior was a little over the top to some people. He didn’t want to subject his friend to that. He just wanted to be sad in his own way and so he was going to stay in his room till he felt somewhat better.

 

When dinner came he got out of his sweats and a t-shit and put something more fitting on for his dad. He walked down and sat at the end of the long table, his dad sitting on the other end. It was quiet as they ate at first but finally his dad spoke up.

 

“You look better.” He said it flatly and took another bite of his food.

 

“Uh, yeah. I slept a lot today and it think that helped.” The words came out normal but Adrien was feeling weird. He still didn’t know what his dad had come home for so early and he wanted to ask but he didn’t dare. It wasn’t really his business what his dad did and if he asked his dad would probably just say he had work to do at home. It would not have been very enlightening.

 

“Good. You have a shoot tomorrow after school and I want it to go much better than this mornings.” His dad didn’t even look at him as he said it. It was like he was talking to an employee, not his son, and it hurt. Him and his dad hadn’t always been like this. When his mom was around things were a lot happier. His dad actually laughed, smiled, and talked to him. The three of them had been happy together, but after his mom disappeared he had changed. He knew his dad missed her as much as Adrien did, but he wished that they had come together instead of tore apart in the face of the situation. He needed his dad, but for the last few years he had been left to deal with it all on his own.

 

His throat clogged up with a different kind of sadness then what he had been feeling all day. He had fooled himself into letting himself hope his dad at come home because of him, but it was obvious that with the way he was talking that his dad didn’t even care how he was feeling. Unlike with Nathalie he didn’t pay enough attention to realize that he wasn’t really sick but that it was something else. He wanted his old dad back.

 

He couldn’t stand to sit there with him anymore when he was on the verge of crying. He wanted to be alone more than ever so he ate his food quickly and asked to be excused. His dad agreed without a complaint and Adrien left the room as quickly and respectfully as he could. Once out of sight he ran to his room and new tears were falling down his face. He flew into his room and dived to his bed to bury his sobs in his pillow.

 

He felt so alone. More alone then he had ever in his life. Between Ladybug, the awkwardness with Nathalie, turning Nino away, and having to remember how ruined his relationship with his dad was, he felt like there was no one left in the world that he truly relied on. He wanted his dad to care about him so much. He was protective, sure, but that wasn’t the same. After his mom disappeared he was afraid that Adrien would too. That’s why it was like pulling teeth to get out of this house and into school. Adrien had wanted more than anything to get out of the lonely house and find someone he could share his life with, and he had. So why did he still feel this way? He had Nino at the very least and of course Plagg was always there with his strange way of caring. And even though he wasn’t close with most of his classmates he still had friends like Alya, Marinette, and sometimes Chloe when she was in a good mood. Just because he had probably lost ladybug that didn’t mean anything. But it felt like it did.

 

Plagg had been eating cheese when he had come back and was now unmoving, watching Adrien, “What happened?” he asked from Adrien’s desk. He thought the boy was feeling better, or at least feeling calmer, but he was full out sobbing again as if it had just happened. What could have happened in the half an hour he was gone?

 

However, Adrien didn’t answer. He didn’t want to talk. He was tired of trying to talk about his feelings. He didn’t want to explain himself, he just wanted to feel like crap without having someone try to convince him that things were not as bad as he felt they were. He just needed to get out and be alone.

 

Pulling himself onto his knees he wiped at his face, “Plagg, transform me.” He said and put his hand out without any warning.

 

“Adrien, wait.” Plagg screeched as he was pulled into Adrien’s ring. The transformation was quick and without his usual fanfare. Once his skin was situated in the leather of his suit he walked over to his window, opened it with a great shove, and flew out into the afternoon sunlight.

 

He tore across town as fast as he could with no direction in his mind. He just wanted to get away from his life. He needed to be free from that suffocating house and his suffocating father. He wanted to leave all his problems even though as Chat they followed him even quicker, nipping at his heals with each jump.

 

He just wanted everything to stop. He wanted to push pause on his life and cease to exist for awhile till he could come back and function normally. He wanted his mom back, he wanted his dad to smile again, he wanted ladybug be comfortable with him, and he wanted to have never gotten his heart broken. Was it too much to ask? Was it too much for him to be happy? Was the universe just against him?

 

He flew and jumped and swung until he landed on a billboard that made him freeze. It was him, his face bright and happy. It was a shoot from a few months ago and it must have just gone up. He looked so happy and innocent there. He was in the stage between cute and handsome then and it surprised him to see how much of his baby face he had lost since then. That Adrien lived in a much simpler time, completely unaware of the shit show he was going to get himself into.

 

Breathing hard he sat down in front of his own face, leaning back so his head rested on the images lips. He sat and stared at the blue sky in front of him till his breathing was back to normal.

 

What a mess he was. What a completely hopeless mess. Pulling his legs up he rested his forehead on his knees. He wished he had an IPod or something to listen to music again. He would sing if he had a nice voice but it would just have been embarrassing if anyone heard him. His heart was aching so much and he needed a release. He just wanted to get everything inside of him and push it outside. He wanted to leave his pain with billboard Adrien and let him deal with the problems.

 

“How about it buddy?” He asked the billboard behind him, “Want to take on some responsibilities? It would be paw-some if you could do that for me.” The pun felt forced on his lips. He hadn’t tried to be his usually punny self since he was last chat noir. It then hit him that the last time he was in costume was when he had confessed. He figured it would have felt bad to be Chat again since it was Chat who had messed everything up. He figured it would be completely unbearable to wear his mask and leather again. He reached up and tugged on his ears and wondered why instead it was still freeing.

 

But only freeing in the sense that he could move around on his own will. He was still trapped inside his emotions. Was there something he could do? Somewhere he could go to help free the mass of thoughts and emotion clogging him up inside? He sat there for a little longer before it hit him where he could go to try and force everything out.

 

He got up in an instant and jumped from the billboard to plummet to the roof below. He landed with a crouch that only hurt his feel a little bit. Without missing a beat he unhooked his baton and was on the move again. He flew across town in the opposite direction that he had originally come from. He jumped, hoped, and bounced as people below him on the street took photos or shot videos of him. He was glad that he was moving too fast for them to see the look on his face, or at least he hoped he was.

 

It didn’t matter though because he had to do this no matter what. However, the closer he got to his destination the nerves he had expected from being chat filled him more and more but for a different reason. It was deservingly so because he was about to scratch of the scab on his wound before it even had time to form. His jumps got slower when he could see the building in front of him as if he was losing his resolve. He paused right before he would have to jump onto it and stared.

 

This place had been a haven for him before. It was where him and ladybug had met and talked before patrol. They would tell jokes, banter playfully, and even flirt. Now all he could think of was his dream and the night before. It was crazy how one moment could ruin thousands of other. Every memory was tainted. Every image of ladybug he could think of suddenly had a feeling of fear with it. He had ruined so much with three little words.

 

Hesitantly he moved. He leaped onto the roof and landed with a soft thump. Standing back on the roof he felt nothing but nerves and sorrow. He had expected something overwhelming. Something so strong that the pain would be shocked out of him and he would suddenly understand what he had to do. Yet, nothing came.

 

He squatted down and touched the roof, for some reason thinking that maybe he was going to have some kind of epiphany by connecting with it. It was stupid of course, but at this point he was desperate.

 

Straightening he walked over to the spot he had been standing when he confessed. He remembered exactly where it was because he remember how the world had frozen when her face had fell. At first he hadn’t been able to look at her face, he had wanted to look at anything but. He had focused on the window that had been right behind her head, the tower that extended in the sky right by her shoulder, the tree that’s tip ended right by her hip, but in the end he was hopelessly watching his world fall apart in her eyes.

 

The pain of the moment flashed through him and he tried to remember why he had thought it was so important to come here. It obviously wasn’t doing anything to help. Was he really trying to face the situation so he could meet ladybug again with an open heart, or was he trying to punish himself again my remembering? He backed out of the spot and sucked in a deep breath. It felt more like the second one was true. The proof was in the way his heart thumped heavily in pain.

 

Stepping back a few times he realized he had almost walked right off the roof, and ironically enough, it was almost like it had been in his dream. Ladybug had backed him up into this position. Why had his subconscious made her so cruel in that moment? Was there some kind of symbolic message his mind was trying to tell him, or were dream just as senseless as he had always thought they were?

 

He had dreamed of his mother a lot after she disappeared. They were always of the moment when she would walk back in through the door. She would apologize and he would cry and his dad would come running. They would all embrace and he would feel loved and whole again. He had first thought it was a sign. His naïve and hopeful self wanted to believe it was the universe telling him that things were going to be okay. But his mom never came home and it was clear to him that dreams were nothing but wishes and things that you didn’t want to think about if not senseless and meaningless.

 

So was his dream with ladybug just like those dreams? Was there nothing to them at all or was there something he was trying to tell himself? If there was some secret message he obviously wasn’t smart enough to figure it out. It was buried way to deep.

 

Moving away from the edge he walked back to where ladybug always sat when she got there first. Sitting down he sat in the spot right next to her spot. He looked over into empty air and pretended that she was sitting right next to him. Her pig tails flowed in the breeze and she smiled, her whole face lighting up as she laughed at something he had just said. He missed her already. It was dumb because it had only been a day and he was supposed to be morning his feelings for her, but he wanted to see her more than anything. He wanted to see her and have it be like nothing had happened. She would smile, call him Chatton, and groan at all his puns. They would fly through the sky of Paris together, their movement so in sync he imagined it looked like they shared a mind. He missed how well they went together and how in a fight they would shoot each other looks that said everything the other needed to know. Their partnership was so perfect it was like they were made for each other

 

Clearly he was the only one that thought that way though. He sighed through his nose and slouched. What would her face look like if he waited her for her? Would she even show up? Would she be angry? Would she be sad? What would she say to him and would they never get their rhythm back? He assumed meeting her would not be as great as he hoped it would be. He wasn’t ready to face her yet, even if he did miss her, and that made him miss her even more.

 

What he had come here to do was face the situation. He wanted to force himself to be okay and it had been a dumb idea. He just wanted it to be over and he figured the best way to do it was go straight to the source of the problem. But the source wasn’t this roof, or even ladybug, it was himself, the one thing he didn’t want to deal with.

 

Standing up he decided it was time to leave. The sky was getting darker by the second and it was getting close to when ladybug would show up if she was coming. He didn’t think she really was going to come today, but he didn’t want to chance it at all. With one look around he promised he would be back again when he was able to fix everything, or at least till he needed to visit the scene of the crime again to scratch at his wounds.

 

Jumping into motion he started to leave the place behind, but he wasn’t ready to go home to his large empty room or his dad. He knew that his home situation wasn’t something he could fix in a night either, but he needed to breathe a little longer. He ran once again not sure where to go. There were not many places in Paris that he could go to be completely alone. There was of course the Eiffel tower but that would be in view of so many people. It was usually somewhere he and ladybug liked to go to look out over the entire city so in spirit she would be there with him too, and he just wanted to leave her at the roof for now. So where was there to go?

 

Since he couldn’t make up his mind he just kept going in the same direction figuring he would hit the edge of the city sooner or later. Eventually he found his way to the Seine and ran up along it, looking at all the boats and people that filled its water and walked along it. Eventually he tired out long before he reached the edge of Paris and slowed down. He perched on the top of a small shop and looked around. Where was he? He was near the river of course, and there were building, and just a bit farther over was a park. In it was a large grass field and tons of trees. He could spot a water fountain and a path that lazily made its way around the park. It looked nice and peaceful and even more a place to be alone. A small smile pulled up on his lips as he realized the universe had lead him to this place. Perhaps it didn’t hate him as much as he thought.

 

 He moved into action again even though his legs yelled at him and made his way into the park. He jumped down onto the street and walked in and started to wander. It was very dark, but thanks to his night vision he could see everything clearly. It would have been crazy for anyone else to be in there so he saw a few small critters run around, disturbed after not seeing a human for a while. As he wandered the thought, and the more he thought the more frustrated he was. All his emotions were building up inside of him especially after he was unable to get rid of his know of emotions and he wanted to find a place to sit and relax more then anything. He kept walking, not even unable to see a path that could lead him to something to sit on. He started to clench his teeth. Why wasn’t anything going in his way? Once things seemed to be good again they instantly turned back. It was starting to feel like a bad joke. In a wave of emotions he stopped walking for a moment and took a deep breath, letting a loud scream out that seemed to flush his system of the emotions that had been building up inside of him. It was oddly primal of him to find so much relief from screaming in the middle of a bunch of trees, but he was dressed as a cat so it seemed fitting. Somewhat calm once again he continued his search for a spot.

 

Not to long after his outburst he saw a path and got on it. He followed it till he spotted a bench sitting along the path between a few trees. It had probably been placed there for people to sit and take a break and it was perfect for him. It was far enough in the trees that he felt completely alone but still knew that he didn’t have to go very far to reunite with society again. He sat down and leaned his head back to stare through the trees to the stars that were starting to shine above. Closing his eyes he decided he was just going to relax and try not to think. He was going to focus on the smell of the air and the trees around him. He was only going to think about the nip of the cold on his skin and the sound of creatures moving among the bushes and trees. He was finally not going to think for a little bit, far away from his home problems and his ladybug problems.

 

 However, a few minutes into his relaxation his Baton started to beep and his eyes shot open. A message? The only person who could have sent him a message was ladybug. He slowly pulled it off his back and stared at it, his heart was squeezing and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. What could she have to say? He had no idea and his mind was panicking so much he couldn’t even make a guess.

 

He took a deep breath and clicked open the screen. The message notification showed on his screen, but did he dare open it? Did he have a choice? Not really. He had to know what she had to say to him. It didn’t matter if it was good or bad, it would eat at him till he knew. Without wasting time to let him change his mind he opened the message and the words glared at him. He read them over once, twice, three times before the words hit him. She was waiting for him on the roof. She had actually went. She had said that she didn’t expect him to come, but was waiting for him anyways and would wait there every night till he came. Most importantly it said that she still cared about him and didn’t want to lose him.

 

Relief shot through him so hard his body started shaking. He didn’t know if she was mad at him or upset, but the fact that she still wanted him in her life was the best news he ever could have gotten. It meant that he hadn’t ruined things past repair. They could work things out in the future. It wasn’t a promise that things would return to normal, it was just a promise that they would try and that was better than nothing.

 

All thoughts of relaxing and his tired legs left him. He found himself bounding out of the park and back onto the roofs of Paris before he could even think about what he was going to do when he got back to their roof.

 

His return to the roof was faster and more tiring then leaving it had been. His heart was yearning and aching at the same time. The mix of what he wanted and what he needed were shuffling thought his thoughts, each trying to take the forefront of his mind and either push him on to where ladybug sat or to stop him and make him go home. But even without permission from his mind his feet kept moving and every second he was that much closer.

 

Finally, seeing their roof in the distance his feet slowed to a stop. He could see her figure from where he was standing, even if it was a red dot in the black scenery. His breathing picked up from more than the physical exercise he had put his body through. He was nervous and he realized that he didn’t want to talk to her yet. He wasn’t ready even if he needed to see her more than his mind could rationally comprehend. He decided he was going to look at her and just make sure she was okay and then he was going to leave. It would ease his mind if nothing else.

 

Now moving with stealth he made his way closer and closer to the roof till he was just a few houses away, sitting in the shadows. He peaked around the corner of the building from the balcony he had found and watched her. She was sitting there, her feet swinging in the air like she loved to do and her head slightly down cast like she was watching her feet. She looked nervous and a little sad. It was kind of like a kid who was waiting for their mom to come get them but their mom had forgotten. They were hopeful that they hadn’t really forgot about them, but as the time passed they had to come face to face with the fact that they had.

 

He wanted more than anything to go up to her and wrap his arms around her. To tell her to smile because everything was going to be okay. But he knew it wouldn’t be that easy and that he didn’t really know if things would be okay. So instead of confronting her he sat there and watched her. He felt a little guilty for not going to talk to her, but she said she understood if he couldn’t talk to her just yet, and he needed more time. He didn’t want to be a scared, nervous wreak when they met. He didn’t want to have so many negative thoughts in his mind when they finally got to talk. He wanted to be strong when they met so they would be able to move on. He figured that would be the easiest way to do it.

 

After about a half an hour he decided he needed to go. It wasn’t healthy to sit there and watch her. He had to go home and keep healing and growing so the next time he could face her and be someone he could be proud of. Standing up he moved to get up on the railing of the balcony so he could move to the roof but the toe of hit boot hit it instead and there was a clanking sound that filled the air around him. He paused, his breathing and all movements coming to a complete stop. Had she heard him?

 

Turning his head slowly he looked to check if she had seen him. His heart almost stopped when he realized she was looking right at him. He was busted. What was he going to do? He was going to have to meet her before he was ready and he knew he was just going to cry and make things worse than they already were. He wasn’t calm and he wasn’t composed. Panicking, he wondered how rude it would to be to take off as fast as he could and get out of there. Would she follow him and stop him and make him talk? Or would she let him go? He guessed he was going to find out because he didn’t feel like he had any other choice.

 

Moving to once again put his foot on the rail he noticed her body deflate and she turned her head. Freezing again his mind scrambled to figure out what had just happened. Had she actually not seen him? He knew he was in the shadows, but was her eyesight really that bad? Sure, he had night vision so he would have been able to see himself no problem, but she had been looking right at him. He waited a few more seconds to make sure she really had not seen him and as she went back too looking solemnly at her feet he realized he was safe.

 

Extra carful this time he pulled himself up on the roof and slowly made his way out of her radar. When he was far enough away from their roof he picked up his pace and was flying across the tops of the building. He jumped from place to place till he found himself back at his house and was crawling through his window. Releasing the transformation Plagg came out of his ring and he could instantly see he was mad.

 

“Don’t ever do that again. “ The cat growled, an accusing finger pointing right at Adrien, “I was trying to talk to you. Do you know how hard it is to see you like that and be stuck in that stupid ring?”

 

Adrien was taken back. He had forced Plagg into the ring a few times before, interrupting his cheese time, but he had never reacted like this. He blinked a few times in surprise and reached out to the Kwami, “Plagg…” he started but the cat zoomed away from his hand. He watched that cat land on his desk and pull out a piece of cheese he had been saving. He started chowing down on it in aggressive fashion.

 

Guilt washed over him and he made his way over to his desk. Plagg ignored him at first when he sat in his chair and laid his head on his arms so they were eye level. But as Adrien sat there he finally looked at him with his little lips pursed.

 

“I’m sorry Plagg.” He said after finally getting the cats attention, “I know this is hard for you to watch. Next time I won’t transform upset like that.” He gave the cat a soft smile, hoping for forgiveness. Plagg watched him for a few minutes before he gulped down the rest of the cheese.

 

“Fine, I forgive you, but you better go get me more cheese as a better apology.” He crossed his arms and pointed his nose into air in a look of a snobbish noble. Adrien giggled and got up from the chair.

 

“Sure Plagg, if that will help you forgive me.” Getting the grumpy Kwami to forgive him so easily was a relief. He was having a tough time but that didn’t mean he should ignore Plagg’s feelings and he really did feel bad. The little cat was worried about him and trapping him in the ring wasn’t fair. He was going to try to never do that again.

 

Reaching out to the doorknob, a clearing of a throat behind him made him pause. He turned to see Plagg looking at him from across the room, “I just want you to be okay, you know that right?”

 

Adrien felt warmth fill his heart, “Yeah I do. Thanks Plagg.”

 

The cat looked away as if he was embarrassed to say that and Adrien tried to squash the giggle that threatened to slip out from his lips. Plagg could be so amazingly cute sometimes. He was glad that he had a friend like Plagg. Turning back to the door he left, planning to get Plagg a little extra cheese in thanks for being there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics in this chapter are from Some Day by Shinedown and Better Life by Paper route.


	7. The Truth Can be Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrein comes back to school looking horrible and concerns his friends. Alya starts making connection and find herself trying to fix situation she feels she caused. Talking about what happened helps Adrien a little bit, but in the end hurts Marinette in a way he will probably never know about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have too much to comment on this chapter about so I just wanted to shout out to those who have left me comments. I really love reading them and talking about the characters. It makes me happy that I gave writing this a chance! thank you guys so much. Every hit, comment, bookmark, and kudo means so much to me.

Marinette managed to get to school pretty early the next day. She was full of energy from how much she had slept the day before despite everything that had happened. After she had waited for Chat that night she had felt down, he had never messaged her back or showed up and that had hurt, but she had to understand where he was coming from. For the rest of the night she had tried to be much more positive and after finishing her homework she went to bed knowing that she had taken the first step to reach out to Chat. She was just hoping that he saw it as the first step too.

However, that morning there was something else more pressing on Marinette’s mind: Her best friend. As she crossed the street to her school she realized she hadn’t thought at all about what she was going to tell Alya about the day before. She hated lying to Alya because she was one of the most important people to Marinette, but she didn’t have a choice. Could she tell her a family member died? No that would be way too much and probably easy to figure out as a lie. Maybe she had messed up really bad at the bakery causing her parents a lot of money? Once again to easy to figure out. Marinette gritted her teeth and hoped that Alya was going to give her another day before she started asking, but she thought that was pretty unlikely.

Now at the school she climbed the front stared, only a few kids walking around since it was a little early to be there. Once she reached the top step a car pulled up in front of the school and she paused to look behind her. Instantly recognizing the car her heart picked up. She hadn’t gotten to see Adrien the day before so she was missing him a little bit and also eager to make sure that he was feeling better. She tried to make it not obvious that she wasn’t waiting for him but she was sure that anyone could figure it. She pulled her backpack off her back as if making sure she had something with her but as soon as the door swung open her head shot up to watch him.

Her heart dropped as soon as he came into view. His eyes were red and he looked as tired as she had felt the day before. What had happened to him? Did he really look like that just from being sick? She closed her bag and slowly straighten up as he closed the car door and it drove away. He started walking towards her with his head down cast. He barely noticed her as he began to get closer to her and she felt her heart speed up to a million miles per hour. Did she say something to him? She wanted to know if he was okay but she didn’t want to be a bother to him. 

She kept switching between saying something and letting him walk by when she felt the panic set it. When he reached her she blurted out before she decided if it was a good idea, “G-good morning Adrien.”

His head shot up in surprise and their eyes met. He had clearly been so in his own world that he hadn’t noticed her. After a second he shot her a bright smile but she could tell that it was fake. His eyes still looked sad and tired and it made her chest ache to see him forcing himself like that.

“Good Morning Marinette.” His voice was scratchy and at first she thought it was because he was still sick, but she knew what people sounded like when they were sick, and his voice was oddly off. Her mind flew to the conclusion that he hadn’t been sick but something else had happened when she pushed it out of her mind. That was ridiculous, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like she was an expert on voices.

“How are you feeling today?” She asked and leaned over to get her backpack where she had left it on the ground. She slipped in on and without a word to acknowledge what they were doing they both moved to go inside the building. Without trying their footsteps fell in sync as they began their climb up the stairs that would lead them towards their classroom. As they walked Marinette started to feel elated that they were walking together but she couldn’t push down the worry she had for him and the feeling that something was off. 

“I’m doing a lot better than yesterday but I still don’t feel one hundred percent.” His eyes were downcast as they walked and she realized for some reason he didn’t want to meet her eyes. He was usually all about eye contact. Or at least she thought he was because whenever they talked he looked into her eyes and it always sent shots of nerves and happiness down her spine. When he looked at her It felt like she had his full attention and it made her feel good to feel like in that moment she was the center of his world. The fact that he wouldn’t stop watching his feet was sending warning signals through her head again. Something was wrong, more than being sick. She had known Adrien long enough to be able to figure that out. But what did she do? Did she offer him some kind of comfort? Did she tell him that he could talk to her if he wanted? Would he appreciate that? She bit her lips hard, unsure what to do and seeing the classroom getting closer and closer, she was running out of time.

“Adrien.” She said and stopped walking. He stopped and turned to look at her with slight confusion covering his expression. She reached out to him with shaking hands, she was so nervous she couldn’t believe she was doing this, and grabbed him/ Before she could get nervous she pulled him into a hug and held him tightly. She felt his body freeze and she instantly knew she had made a mistake. Why had she assumed that giving him a hug without asking was an okay thing to do? She had probably crossed his boundaries. She was about to let him go and apologize for doing something like that so suddenly when his body relaxed and she felt his arms wrap around her. He rested his chin on her shoulder and squeezed back her tightly. She hadn’t been expected that reaction and her breath whooshed out of her. She quickly pulled in another breath and began to rub him on the back in what she hoped was a soothing motion, “I hope everything is okay.”

He didn’t say anything back and she was okay with that. She wasn’t hugging him for him to tell her what was wrong, she just hopped that he was feeling the love and comfort she was trying to send his way. She figured he must have because they just stood like that for a little while. They stayed in each other’s arms till there was the sound of footsteps coming and Adrien pulled away as if he had just come back to his senses and realized what was happening. However, before pulling completely away he left a hand on her shoulder and looked Marinette in the eyes like usual, “Thanks Marinette.” He gave her a soft smile, not as bright as the one earlier, but it felt so much more real. She couldn’t help the small smile that spread on her lips in response. She was glad that she had been able to make him feel better at least a little.

With that they both turned and walked into the classroom. There were a few people sitting in their seats already and upon seeing marinate Rose scrambled down to the front of the classroom and started talking to Marinette. Right away she asked her if she was feeling better then she had the day before. Marinette assured the girl she was fine and from the corner of her eyes watched as Adrien slid into his seat and rested his chin in his hand, staring blankly at the front of the room.

She was still worried about Adrien but she wanted to give Rose her full attention in the moment. They continued to chat for a little bit longer, thankfully not about why she had been feeling bad, and more people filed into the classroom. After a little while Rose went back to her seat to talk with Juleka and Marinette moved to sit behind Adrien who was still sitting in the same exact position as before. It was eating at her, what was wrong with him? Even though she was happy just to be there for him, she still wanted to know what had happened so she could help him feel better even more. She was so focused on him it was throwing all of her own problems out of the door. She didn’t think she had ever seem him as down as he was in the entire time they had known each other. 

In the next moment Nino walked in the door. There was a big smile on his face, probably because he was excited to see his best friend again, but once he saw Adrien sitting in his seat looking blankly at the wall it fell drastically. His footstep wobbled for a second before he quickly walked over to their desk and slid in next to him.

“What’s wrong?” Nino asked under his breath, his face full of concern, but Marinette could still hear him.

Adrien turned his head to look at Nino, looking sort of like he had just woken from a nap, and flashed him the same fake smile he had given her, “I’m still feeling a little bad but it’s nothing, don’t worry.”

Nino pursed his lips as his eyes searched his face. Just like Marinette, Nino could tell that something was wrong with Adrien. His best friend didn’t look sick like he was claiming, he looked broken and haggard. Nino instantly felt like he needed to understand what was happening with Adrien so he could attempt to make whatever was wrong better. He wanted to talk to him right in that moment about it, call him out on his lie, but he couldn’t do it in class. Especially not with Marinette in ear shot giving the back of Adrien’s head the same look Nino himself was giving Adrien. He wanted to talk to him privately but he didn’t want to wait till lunch to find out what was going on. Should he pull him out of the classroom? That seemed to be his only choice.

“Come with me.” Nino said as he stood up from his seat, motioning for Adrien to come with him. However, Adrien didn’t move and after a second Nino tried pulling on his arm to make him get up, “Come on we need to talk.”

Adrien shook his head, not meeting Nino’s eyes, “Class start in a few minutes. We can talk later.”

Nino stared at I’m with his hand still grabbing his arm before he let go and sunk back into his seat. If he didn’t want to come he wasn’t going to force him, but why was he avoiding him like that? Did he not want to talk to him about what happened that badly? “Fine, but we are going to talk later, okay dude? You don’t look good.”

Adrien eyes started down at the desk and flicked p his eyes to look up at him for a second before looking back down, “I said I’m okay, don’t worry about it. It’s really nothing.”

Nino felt a little hurt that Adrien was so obviously lying to him, but he didn’t know what to do. If his best friend didn’t want to talk to him there was nothing he could do. Yet, it was obviously something eating at him so he didn’t think it was smart to leave him completely on his own. He decided that he was going to keep a close eye on Adrien for a while. He hoped at some point Adrien would change his mind and want to talk to him so he didn’t have to strangle it out of him at lunch.

While that was happening in the classroom, Alya on the other hand was running late. Her younger siblings had made a mess that morning and Alya had scrambled to help clean up only finding that once it was all clean that she should have left for school ten minutes before. She had practically ran to school and came through the door in a fashion that felt very Marinette like. However, unlike the clumsy girl, Alya had made it to school a few minutes before the bell. She looked up instantly to look for Marinette and make sure she was there and okay. She found her sitting at their desk, but she had a concerned look on her face and she was looking down at the two boys in front of her. 

Her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw Adrien. Nino was trying to talk to him but he was responding very much. But He looked completely horrible. He looked like he was hallow inside and he was just staring down at his desk expressionless. Nino was looking desperate as he talked and after a moment he seemed to finally give up on whatever he was trying to do. But even after they finished talking he had a concerned look on his face just like Marinette did. 

Alya didn’t want to believe what she was seeing because she had a good idea of what had happened to Adrien, and if she was right she had a hand in the way he was looking. The guilt that had been swimming in her for a few days shot to an all-time high. She walked over to her desk and tried to calm herself down. She had to remind herself that she didn’t know if that’s really what happened, but either way she was going to have to talk to Adrien as soon as possible. She for one needed to make sure he was okay, but she also needed to either talk to him and remedy the situation, or apologize for having a hand in what happened to him. 

Sliding into her seat next to Marinette another thought hit her. If Adrien was heartbroken from getting turned down, that meant that it wasn’t Marinette that he had liked. That would mean a whole different situation she would have caused and would have to make right. Alya groaned, realizing just how bad of a mess she had created and cursed herself.

“What wrong?” Marinette asked, turning to Alya after hearing the sound. She was concerned that something was now wrong with Alya too but Alya shook her head.

“Nothing. Today is just going to be a long day.” She sighed and Marinette gave her an understanding look even though she didn’t even know half the things Alya was going to have to do.

For the rest of the class there seemed to be a dark cloud covering the front left corner of the room where the four of them sat. Each of them were so focused on their own worries that they barely payed attention to what was happening in class. The other students didn’t notice their mood at first but by the time the ball rang all of them had been whispering and wondering what was going on with them.

At the bell Chloe, who was oblivious to the situation, stood up and walked over to the group, but more specifically up to Adrien, “Adrien honey!” she called and clung to his side as soon as he stood up. He looked at her unsurprised by the contact and didn’t move to push her away, “How are you feeling today? I tried to get stuff sent to your house to make you feel better but the butler was too busy to take it to your house! He sure is an ungrateful man, daddy should fire him.”

“Oh thanks Chloe, that was very nice of you to think of me. It’s okay though, you shouldn’t fire him. I’m sure he was doing his job the best he could.” His smile was small but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Of course! Anything for you Adrien. But I guess I won’t have daddy fire him if you say so. He usually listens to what I say anyways so it’s fine. But next time he better listen!” She snuggle into him in a moment of bliss before pulling him out of the room to go to the science room for their next class. Sabrina trailed after them like a puppy on a leash.

Alya, Nino, and Marinette all looked after them. They had all missed the chance to talk to him again and feelings of frustrations shot through them. 

“Do you think he’s really okay?” Marinette asked Nino and he looked over his shoulder at her.

“I don’t think so, but I have no idea what happened.” He sighed sadly and grabbed his backpack off the ground, “I’m going to try talking to him at lunch to find out why.”

Alya moved down from her desk and put a hand on his shoulder, “I think I have an idea of what happened, and if I’m right I need to talk to him. So if you don’t mind Nino let me take this one?”

Nino looked into the girl’s eyes and could see a determined look blazing in them. For some reason it didn’t shock him that the reporter knew what was going on, she was so observant that she always knew what was going on, “What do you think is wrong with him?”

Alya’s eyes flickered over to Marinette quick enough that Marinette herself didn’t catch it, “I don’t want to say anything if I’m wrong, so just trust me.”

Nino looked between the two girls, the wheels in his head turning. It was something that Alya didn’t want Marinette to know about? Or did it involve Marinette? He tried to think back to anything Adrien could have said recently that might have to do with Marinette. He couldn’t think of anything, the most important thing that Adrien had asked him about what the girl he had a crush on…It suddenly hit him like a hammer to his skull. Marinette liked Adrien, so if this was about the girl Adrien liked of course Alya wouldn’t want her best friend to hear about it. But then how did Alya know that Adrien liked someone? And if it did have to do with that why did Alya want to be the one to talk to Adrien about it? He started to feel like a horrible best friend that he hadn’t made the connection much sooner and very confused because the only reason he could figure was there was a lot of things he didn’t know.

“I…” He wanted to protest somehow. To make Alya sit him down and tell him everything she knew, but he guessed there had to be some reason Adrien told Alya and not him and he didn’t want to cross any boundaries that would make Adrien mad at him. He sighed and his shoulders slouched, “Okay, I’ll find any excuse to leave Adrien alone at lunch so you can talk to him.”

Alya, catching how he was feeling, gave him a sympathetic smile, “Thanks Nino. I know you want to talk to him too, but it’s important that I talk to him as soon as possible.”

Marinette was shooting them both looks, feeling like she had been ejected from the conversation, “Okay, am I missing something? What do you too know and why do I know nothing?”

They both looked at her. Nino was unsure to say but Alya patted her on the back, “Don’t worry Marinette, I’ll tell you as much as I can after I talk to Adrien.”

Nino could tell that Marinette’s wheels were turning but unlike him she didn’t make any connections. He wondered if that was because Alya had kept it from her entirely or if her head was somewhere else considering the way she had been acting the day before. He didn’t know what was going on with Marinette either so he didn’t know if the mood yesterday was because she found out Adrien liked someone. He hadn’t asked her what was wrong because they were friends, but not close enough to have hearts to hearts like he would with Adrien. Even still he was starting to feel like a bad friend all around.

“Fine, let’s just move classrooms then.” Marinette didn’t seem happy that she was being left out but she gave in anyways. Grabbing her backpack off the floor the three of them moved to leave the classroom in silence, the air heavy between them.

Going to their classroom they found Adrien with Chloe still with him. Chloe was talking without giving Adrien much of a chance to talk, but he didn’t seem to mind. The three of them took their seats around him and Chloe shot them a look, displeased they were there to interrupt the conversation. Yet, she still stayed and talked to him till the bell rang.

The rest of the day before lunch was much the same. The four of them had an awkward, heavy atmosphere around them. And when it was time to leave Nino announced he had to go home and get something he left behind for the next class. Adrien offered to go home with him, even though he didn’t really seem to want to, but Nino declined.

So as Marinette and Alya got up Adrien sat in his seat, unsure what he should do for the next two hours. Alya gave Marinette a look and even though she pouted, she got her stuff and left the room, leaving Alya and Adrien alone in the classroom.

Adrien didn’t even look at her as she stood there. She wasn’t sure if he even realized she was still in the classroom. Alya took that moment to mentally collect herself before she moved and sat in the seat Nino had vacated.

“Hey Adrien. “She started and he looked over at her, and just like she expected he was surprised to find her still in the classroom, “Can we talk?” 

“Sure, what did you need?” He situated himself in his seat so he was giving Alya his full attention but he looked tired and worn out still. She wasn’t sure if he was really even interested in having a conversation with her either by the way he looked.

“You are not sick at all, are you?” She asked, deciding to get right to the point and skip any kind of small talk. She figured it was better to rip of the Band-Aid and really dig in.

He gave her a warry look in response. His mouth opened and she was sure he was about to lie to her when he shut it again. He squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed at them, “No. I’m not.”

Alya was now more sure than ever that she was right. New guilt hit her since she was now sure that his state reflected on her actions, “It’s about that girl you liked, isn’t it?”

Adrien didn’t open his eyes but his body seemed to deflate more than ever as he hid his face in his hands, “Yes.” He said and it was distorted through his hands.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” His fingers moved and he peaked out at her with his green eyes full of uncertainty. She realized Adrien had never told her the girl’s name. There was obviously some secrecy around this situation. There must have been something about the girl he didn’t want others to know about. That was perhaps the reason that Adrien was looking at her that way. He probably wanted to talk to her about it but he didn’t think he should because he didn’t want to let anything slip, “You don’t have to say anything specific.” She added quickly, figuring knowing that would help him talk, “I just want to make sure you are okay. Plus, I feel like it’s my fault that whatever happened happened.”

Adrien’s hands fell away from his face to reveal a look of shock, “Why would it be your fault Alya? Whatever I did I did because I wanted to do it. It may have turned out horribly but it was on me, not you.” 

She shrugged, trying to act casual even thought her brain caught on the word ‘horrible’ and it made her mentally cringe, “Yeah, but I encouraged you. I don’t even know what happened but you look so upset and I can’t help but know that maybe it never wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t encouraged you.”

Adrien looked upset that she thought this. He reached out and placed his hand on her upper arm, “No Alya, please. I don’t want you to be upset over me. You told me that you couldn’t tell from what I told you so I shouldn’t have felt so firmly that she liked me. I wanted to it so bad that even if it was obvious that it was a slim chance I still took my hope and ran, ignoring your warning.”

He was trying to make Alya feel better but that made her feel worse. Here he was, a guy broken hearted and in pain, and in that moment he was more worried about Alya. He was such a sweet and caring guy that it made her feel even worse that he was hurting. He didn’t deserve to have his heart broken. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of girl at this point wouldn’t be happy that Adrien had fallen in love with them. She realized that was unfair of her to think since people didn’t have control over who they loved, but in that moment she was angry at whoever it was for doing this to him.

She grabbed his hand off her arms and held it in between then, giving it a tight squeeze, “ Thanks for caring so much about me Adrien, but I know at least part of this is my fault and I really want to help you feel better. Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help you think about it more clearly?”

Adrien looked down to where their hands were connected then looked back up at her. She could tell he was still deciding if he should tell her or not. He was probably afraid to involve her more and make her more upset, that was just the kind of person Adrien was. She couldn’t imagine caring so much about other people over herself. Adrien continued to amaze and wow her.

“Don’t worry about my feelings Adrien, “She added, “If anything being able to help you would make me feel better.” She knew it was selfish to tell him that. It was of course true but she was using it was a way to manipulate him even more into talking to her. She did feel bad for using dirty tricks to get him to talk, but he was a hard nut to crack.

Adrien took a few more seconds thinking before he looked up into her face. She could instantly see some kind of pain in his eyes that he had been keeping hidden before. He sighed a sigh so deep and sorrowful that Alya was almost afraid that the situation was bigger then she could handle.

“I’ve loved her for over a year now. We met up often and we talked and we were close, but not as close as we could have been. I loved her so much, she was everything to me and I looked forward to seeing her so much. More recently when we got together she started opening up to me more. I’m not sure why, it may have just come from knowing each other for long enough, but I wasn’t going to ask and ruin it. I wanted so bad for her to love me back, I dreamed about it often. It was almost like an obsession. I had waited for so long for her to return my feelings and she was everything to me, so I took more out of it then there was and I confessed to her.” He stopped talking and took a deep breath. This obviously was the hardest part for him. He looked like he was remembering what had happened and his face was getting closer to crying. Alya could feel how much he loved this girl in his words and his actions. It was almost like he had lived and breathed his love by the way he was agonizing over it. She squeezed his hand again and that seemed to give him courage to finish, “She told me that she loved someone else. That it wasn’t me it was just that she could never give him up. It hurt so bad because there was nothing I could have ever done to change the situation, I never had a chance. I was doomed to love her forever and never have her love me back. And now I know that I have to get over her, but I don’t know if I can. I tried to force it out of me, I tried to move on as quickly as possible because I’m already tired of it hurting and I don’t want to lose her friendship. But now I don’t know if we can ever be the same way we were before and I’m scared that I ruined everything.”

Adrien stopped talked as he pulled his hand from Alya’s to bury his face in his hands again. She wasn’t sure if he had started crying or if he was just embarrassed. Scooting her chair closer she put her arm around him. The situation seemed so much more complicated then she could have imagined. She wished she knew who the girl was because some pieces seemed to be missing in his story. Who was this girl he was close with that she had never heard of? How close were they and how likely was it that he had actually ruined their friendship?

“I think that it can’t be as bad as you think. “ She started out slowly, still trying to figure out the situation, “I think, that if she can’t get past this incident, then she is a really bad friend. Have you talked to her since it happened?”

He brought his hands down so his fingers were on his chin, “No, but she messaged me. She told me that she wanted to meet up and talk it out and that she didn’t want to lose me as a friend. But that doesn’t mean things are going to work out and be the same. There are some things you can never get past no matter how hard you try.”

It was clear that Adrien was overthinking things. From what she could tell the girl wasn’t upset at him. She obviously cared about him and wanted to work things through so she wasn’t going to disappear on him. Adrien had insecurities that he hid, they all did so it wasn’t really a surprise, and she figured that this situation was playing on his.

“Why do you think that she isn’t going to be able to be your friend again after this?” she asked, and still in her embrace he turned to look at her.

“I was greedy and selfish and I put our friendship on the line. I can’t blame her for being mad at me for that.” It almost blew Alya’s mind that he could say that with a straight face. How was confessing your feelings to someone greedy and selfish? It’s not like he had known she didn’t like him and did it anyways. It was a situation where he thought the feelings were mutual and so he had gone for it. That did in no way shape or form make him selfish.

“Would you be mad and think a person is selfish if someone you didn’t like confessed to you?” she asked and his face scrunched up in thought.

“Well no…I wouldn’t be.” Alya could see that he was catching onto what she was saying but she continued anyways.

She pulled her arm away from him so she could look into his face better, “So then why would she be mad at you? Why would that make you selfish? Does that logic make any sense? Feelings are feelings and it’s no one’s fault when they don’t work out. Hypothetically if I confessed to you right now, would you hate me forever and never want to see me again?” He shook his head, “Yeah that’s right. If you and this girl are good friends, she’s not going to run away because you like her. She already said she wanted to work it out. If you realize that things don’t have to change between you then they don’t have to. You can keep your friendship, but you do realize you have to move on right? If you stay her friend and still like her it’s going to be torture for you. Especially if she does end up with this other guy.”

He audibly swallowed, “I know. And in the end that’s what makes it complicated. I love her so much, but I’m going to do my best to let her go. I don’t really have a choice if I want to keep her in my life. I just hope it’s possible. I want to be able be strong when I face her and I don’t know when that’s going to be. So for now I have to work on letting go of these feelings. Do you know how I can do that?” He looked at her hopefully.

Alya actually had never been in a situation like this. All her crushes had been mutual to some degree and even if they didn’t make it past a date it had been fine. She didn’t think she had ever loved someone as much as Adrien loved this girl. What advice could she give if she had never actually been in his shoes? Looking at him she knew he needed help, but could she really just tell him what she figured would work? She didn’t really have a choice, “The only answer I have isn’t something you will like. Do you still want to hear it?”

His face fell a little but he nodded still, “Yeah, I think I still need to hear it.”

“Okay.” She really hoped this was the right thing to tell him, “It’s just time. Time is going to help you. You have to talk to her and make things better at some point, and maybe you will start back at square one, but time is going to heal your wounds.”

Looking up at the ceiling he ran his hands down his face, “Yeah I figured that was it. Is there not anything else though? I’m already sick of this situation. I don’t want to have to wait.”

“I guess the other thing you can do is distract yourself. Throw yourself into school and your hobbies and your friends. I know Nino, Marinette, and I are here for you. If you keep talking to us and let us help you then you don’t have to think about her anymore.” Adrien didn’t look any happier with this advice and she understood why, “I’m sorry there isn’t any magic fix. These situations suck and you just have to suffer through them till you find the other side of the tunnel. I wish I had something better to say but I don’t.”

Adrien looked down at the desk, extremely thoughtful. He nodded his head repeatedly, more like he was nodding to whatever he was thinking then to what Alya had said, “Do you think I need to talk to her as soon as I can?” He finally asked, still looking down.

“Are you ready to see her?” If Alya had just gotten her heart broken she didn’t think she would want to see the person after only a few days, but if Adrien did, then she guessed it was more power to him.

He thought for a few moments, his finger rubbing at his lip unconsciously. After what felt like forever he turned to Alya with a determined expression, “No, not yet. I already told myself I wasn’t going to face her till I was firm in my resolve and was over this. I want to meet her and talk it out when I’m not so broken. Seeing her now and talking about it would just add another wound.” He paused again as something dawned on him, “I guess you’re right, I need just a little more time.”

“Okay, then you know what you had to do. You need to heal on your own terms. If she is as great as you say she will understand that you need space.” Alya patted him on his shoulder and they both moved to stand up.

“Yeah, she’s pretty great. I need to give her more credit. I fell in love with her because of her big heart. I should trust in that.” He picked up his backpack and Alya was sure she could see a glimmer of hope in his eyes. She was really glad she had talked to him. It seemed like it had helped, but she hoped it was enough.

They started to leave the room side by side when Alya put a hand on his shoulder and they both paused, “Don’t forget that I’m always here for you Adrien. Whenever you need to talk to me don’t hesitate. Talking about our problems is what friends are for.”

A genuine smile grew on his face, possibly for the first time that day, “Thank Alya, you have really helped. It means so much to me that you are here for me.”

Giving her a final bright smile he turned to leave the classroom and Alya couldn’t help but think that that boy needed as much love as he could get, and if she could help him with that just a little, then she would be happy.

Standing in the classroom she felt accomplished, but knew that her work that day was far from over. Pulling out her cell phone she shot Marinette a text asking her where she was. Her response came quickly and she headed off to where she was.

She had to tell Marinette now, but was that the smart thing to do? Yesterday Marinette had been wreaked emotionally, not to unlike Adrien, but she had no idea why. She wanted to know so bad but she wanted to respect the girl’s space. If she wanted Alya to know she would tell her. However, was it smart to add this onto her plate? But if she didn’t tell her right away wouldn’t that be worse? If she let Marinette sit on the thought that Adrien was going to ask her out it would hurt even more later on then it would now. In the end no matter what happened this wasn’t going to be good, so maybe it was better to do it now before anything else happened. It had to be better coming from her then someone else.

Gripping the straps of her bag she settled down in her resolve. Round two of the days hard conversations was about to begin.

Alya found Marinette quickly since it was one of the girl’s favorite places to eat lunch when it was sunny. She sat down next to her and Marinette instantly started asking questions.

“Was he okay? What happened?” she put her food down in her bag to give Alya her full attention. She was completely eager to understand what was going on with her friends.

“Adrien is fine, we talked it about it and I think he’s a little better. However, I have to talk to you about it now, and I have to apologize to you too.” Mariette’s eager look fell into confusion.

“It has something to do with me?” she was searching Alya’s face, trying to understand what the girl could be talking about.

“Yeah, and it’s going to upset you .Do you want to talk about it now or after school?” Alya knew that Marinette was going to cry at bear minimum and didn’t want to subject her to that in the middle of a school say unless she wanted her to tell her now.

“I’m going to be upset?” She could see Marinette’s hand tighten on her knees. Worry shown in her eyes and it made Alya’s heart feel extremely heavy, “Is it that bad?”

Alya scratched her forehead in a bit of an awkward motion, “Yeah, and it my fault that I made this mess. You’re not going to like it at all.”

They sat there a few moments looking into each other eyes. Alya was ready for Marinette to be mad at her, but she was still scared to tell her. She wanted to beat her head into a wall until she learned her lesson not to jump to conclusions, especially about her best friends long time crush.

“I guess… I want to hear it. I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate the rest of the day either way. I’m scared, but I think I just need to get it over with.” Marinette sounded unsure as she spoke, but she had made a decision and Alya was going to respect that.

Taking a deep breath she started, “I made a huge mistake. A huge huge mistake and I take full responsibility for this. But I was wrong.” Marinette was watching Alya so hard she felt like her eyes were straining. She was wrong? Wrong about what? Marinette wanted to tell Alya to stop, because she could see were this was going but she wanted to deny it. She wanted to be blissfully unaware of the truth that was coming towards her but she knew that was a bad idea.

Alya’s mouth was open to say the words. She could see the struggle on her friend face as she tried to drop the bomb on her, but in pity but Marinette beat her to it, “Adrien doesn’t like me. It was someone else.”

Ayla’s mouth snapped close as she watched her best friends face fall. Mariette dragged her legs up and curled into a tight ball, her emotions swirling and crashing inside of her. She knew it had been too good to be true. Why would Adrien ever like her? She was nobody special. And while it made sense, it really did hurt.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.” Alya’s voice was soft and she found that this conversation was so much harder to have then the one with Adrien was, “It was someone else. And I really shouldn’t have told you that it was you when I really didn’t know anything. I know how much he means to you and that was so completely stupid of me to have been so careless. I got you hurt and I understand if you are mad. Just know I love you so much and I’m really sorry I did this.”

There was a sniffing sound as tears fell down Marinette’s face. God it hurt so much. She had gotten her hopes up and it had been for nothing. It was back to square one with Adrien. She buried her head into her arms as she continued to cry.

Alya wanted to wrap her best friend in a hug, but she didn’t know if Marinette would want her to touch her. If she was Marinette she probably want to be left alone. And if Marinette wanted her to leave she would, even if it would hurt Alya to do so. 

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked quietly, too afraid to say it louder in case she did say yes. But Marinette shook her head and unrolled from her ball. Crawling across the grass she pulled Alya into a hug and continued to cry.

Alya was shocked at first, this was not the reaction she had expected. She thought Marinette would yell at her or tell her to get lost, but she had done neither. Alya wrapped the crying girl in a hug as a sob racked her body. Marinette had such a big heart. She loved fiercely and fell hard. But at the same time she was so forgiving to whoever pushed her down and that was a downfall for her. Of course there was some people she hated like Chloe, she wasn’t that much of an angle, but the fact that Marinette was trying to find comfort in the person who had hurt her was crazy.

Alya started rubbing circles in Marinette’s back when Marinette spoke up, “I forgive you, you were only trying to help. I thought it was me too, it made sense even though it was dumb. It still hurts though. It hurts so much. I can understand how he feels a little.”

Alya’s hands stopped moving on her back, “How who feels?”

Marinette pulled back from the hug, a look of regret on her face, “Oh…this character in a book I read. It’s nothing really.” She looked an Alya to make sure she believed her before she pushed herself back into Ayla’s neck and continued to cry.

“It’s going to be okay.” Alya tried to say soothingly, “This doesn’t mean it’s over. You still have a chance, you just have to give him time to heal.”

Marinette pulled back again and started wiping at her tears. She realized she didn’t know what had gone down, “What really happened then?”

Alya hesitated, not wanting to further the girls pain by telling her the truth, but figured she deserved to hear it, “He had liked this girl, I don’t know who she is or how he met her, and he confessed and she turned him down because she liked someone else.” As Alya told her she could help but compare that to her and chat. How strange it was that something like that had happened to both of them around the same time. She felt extremely horrible for Adrien. That had to be hard on him and she now understood why he looked so worn down and beat up. He was struggling with loving someone who didn’t love him too.

The situation made her want to have hope, but it felt so selfish to be happy about his broken heart. It was true that because this girl had turned him down that she still had a chance, but she it didn’t make her pleased. Instead it just felt like the whole thing was a mess. She guess this was what you called a love triangle? Or was it a square if you included the other girl? Or perhaps it was a line? She loved Adrien, Adrien loved this girl, and this girl loved some other guy. It was completely crappy and just thinking about it made her cry harder.

“I know, but it really does seem doomed. I’m never going to give up on him, I love him so much, but it feels so much harder now.” She finally said back and pressed her face into Alya’s shoulder.

“Yeah I guess it does, but we are all going to work through it. And if you keep trying to get to know him then maybe this could be good for both of you.”

“What do you mean?” She asked not pulling her face from where it was buried in Alya’s shirt.

“I think you can help each other grow in this situation. And even if it doesn’t end up in you getting together, though I believe it is still possible, I think just you two becoming close friends would be a good thing.”

Marinette could kind of see what she was saying. Marinette wanted to be with Adrien, no matter what, and Adrien needed to move on from the situation he was in. Maybe coming together as friends and getting to know each other wasn’t a bad thing to do. It could hurt her a lot, but understanding Adrien and being there for him would be more than enough. Just being close to him would be good. And now that she had a reality check, maybe it was time for her to really start trying to reach Adrien for real.

However, even with that resolve, she was going to cry. For the rest of lunch she mourned the future she had already been planning for her and Adrien and brought her mind back to where it used to be before the whole incident. She was sad, and there was a new barrier in the way of her and Adrien, but she would still try.


End file.
